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THE 



CASE OF IRELAND STATED 

i 

HISTORICALLY, 

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT; 



TOGETHER WITH 



A GAZETTEER, 

GEOGRAPHICAL, DESCRIPTIVE AND STATISTICAL, COMPILE! 
FROM THE LATEST AND BEST AUTHORITIESf 

4°. 5 ~ 



"The mere Irish were not only accounted aliens, but enemies, and 
altogether out of the protection of the law, so as it was no capital offense to 
kill them."— Sir John Davies. 



UAkPfT 



CHICAGO : 
PUBLISHED BY P. T. SHERLOCK. 

1880. 



••. 



Entered according to According to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by 

P. T. SHERLOCK, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 






STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED 



THE CHICAGO LEGAL NEWS COMPANY. 



CONTENTS. 



I. Ireland: Showing her geographical position. 
II. General statistics, exhibiting, in a condensed 
form, her government; the surface of the island; 
her agricultural and mineral resources; her soil, 
climate, and productive capabilities; her popula- 
tion, and natural advantages. 

III. Her history, from the earliest days of record to the 

present time, briefly sketched. 

IV. The land system under native government; the 

introduction of the feudal system, and the past 
and present condition of the tillers of the soil. 

V. The last organized effort by " The National Land 
League," to root the people on the soil of their 
fathers, and prevent their expatriation through 
poverty, or extermination by famine. 
VI. A Gazetteer, exhibiting in detail her political, ju- 
dicial and ecclesiastical divisions, and her subdi- 
visions, by counties, cities, municipalities, baro- 
nies, towns, boroughs and parishes; distinguish- 
ing their separate geographical locations; their 
mineral resources, developed and undeveloped; 
their area in acres; occupations of the people; 
manufactures, where they exist; water-power, 
railroad and water communications, population, 
and public institutions. 



PUBLISHEE\S PEEFAOE. 



Late in the fall of 1879, when the wail of Irish woe, 
caused by evictions, and the cry of famine had reached the 
shores of this Western World, — while Parnell and Dillon 
were crossing the Atlantic for the purpose of. telling to 
the American people the sad story of Ireland's pressing 
need ; the questions on every tongue were: Why this 
ever-recurring misery in a land so bountiful ? What is 
the cause ? Where is the remedy ? 

Simple questions, these; and almost every Irishman, 
feels that he knows himself, yet how few can give a 
prompt, satisfactory and laconic answer. 

Many an Irishman, yet living, is the victim of that 
villainous law of civilizing England, which made it a 
crime punishable by death, to teach or be taught the use 
of the alphabet in any language ; — others who escaped 
partially from the operations of this accursed enactment 
bore with them that other accompanying legacy of En- 
glish civilization to Ireland — penury. They had neither 
the means to purchase, nor the time to peruse the scat- 
tered chapters of Irish history. 

They were cast upon the world naked of everything, 
as it were. Their lands were stolen. Their croods were 
stolen. Their arts, their language, their literature, their 
manufactures, their music, their religion, their very names 

(5) 



publisher's preface. 



were prohibited. Their women and children were barbar- 
ously slaughtered, stolen and transported to the Indies, 
and by an act of the English Pale Law, their very 
manhood was assailed, and a large class of the popu- 
lation were to be mutilated. But worse than any, or all 
of these things put together — the mind — the intellect — 
the soul — the soul that represents the very God, was to 
be degraded, debased and destroyed by the laws, not 
only of Protestant England, but also of Catholic 
England. 

Nor did the name or profession of any special religious 
belief have any effect to debar the robber, when he 
found anything to steal. Catholic, or Protestant were 
robbed alike. In the one case it was spiritual fidelity to 
Rome — in the other it was fidelity to Ireland — both 
called treason to England. But whatever the pretense 
for a cause, the result was always the same — the trans- 
fer of all their earthly possessions to the despoiler, and 
whenever it was possible, the act was consummated by 
the life-blood of the victim. Nor were the earlier English 
land robbers more fortunate, in many cases, than the na- 
tive; the land robber of one reign often became the victim 
of the land robber of another reign, until in time, the for- 
feitures and confiscations amounted to more than three 
times the surface of the entire Island. 

At a casual meeting of a few Irishmen in Chicago, — 
about this time, — it was proposed to prepare an inexpen- 
sive volume, not aspiring to the dignity of consecutive 
history, but merely a glance at the record of England's 
doings in Ireland, so as satisfactorily to answer the ques- 
tions propounded, in the smallest number of words — to 
show whereby the laws of England established a system 
of land-robbery from which sprang most of the evils 



PUBLISHER S PREFACE. I 

which afflict the Island, " even unto the present day" 
with the accompanying laws against commerce, manufac- 
tures, coinage, fisheries, mining, and education. 

The writers of this sketch of Irish history are well- 
known gentlemen, well versed in history and literature, 
and their statements may be accepted without question. 
The present volume is to meet an immediate want, 
namely, a plain statement of the present question agitat- 
ing all Ireland. 

Should circumstances justify, it is proposed to make 
this volume the first of a series of Aisr Historical 
Irish Library; not a library in the present acceptation 
of that word, nor perhaps strictly historical — as it may 
have an occasional poetic tinge — but a series of books 
uniform in size, style and price, and of such useful mate- 
rial as will enable not only the Irishman in x\merica, but 
also those "of the manor born," to learn something of a 
people, and a land, who though victims of the most ad- 
verse circumstances for centuries, have nevertheless 
filled no small space in the world's history. 

P. T. SHERLOCK, 

Publisher. 
Chicago, January, 1880. 



"The lion of St. Jarlath's, Catholic Archbishop of Tuam 

surveys with an envious eye the Irish exodus .... and 

sighs over the departing demons of assassination and murder! . . . 
So complete is the rush of departing marauders, whose lives were 
profitably occupied in shooting Protestants from behind a hedge, 
that silence reigns over the vast solitude of Ireland. . . . Just as 
civilization gradually supercedes the wilder and fiercer creatures 
by men and cities, so de-civilization, such as is going on in Ireland, 
wipes out mankind to make room for oxen." 

For this characteristic Saxon yelping over the expatriation and 
destruction of a million and a half of the Irish people caused by 
fever and famine, see Saturday Revieiv, London, Nov. 28th, 1863. 

" 111 fares the land to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates and men decay; 
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade — 
A breath can make them as a breath has made ; 
But a bold peasantry, a country's pride, 
When once destroyed can never be supplied." 



STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 



HER GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION SURFACE, RIVERS, LAKES, 

CLIMATE, BOTANY, ZOOLOGY AND GEOLOGY, POLITICAL, 
MILITARY AND JUDICIAL DIVISIONS OF THE COUNTRY, 



CENSUS OF THE POPULATION, ETC. 

Ireland is an island on the north-west of Europe, lati- 
tude from 51° 26' to 55°21' North, longitude 5° 20' to 10° 
26' West. It is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on all 
sides except where it is separated from Great Britain by 
St. George's Channel, forty-seven miles across where 
narrowest; the Irish sea, one hundred and thirty-eight 
miles; and the Northern Channel, thirteen miles. Its 
shape is a rhomboid, the greatest diagonal of which is 
three hundred and two miles, and the lesser, two hun- 
dred and ten miles; the greatest length on a meridional 
line is two hundred and twenty- five miles; the greatest 
breadth one hundred and seventy-four miles, and the 
least, on parallel lines of latitude, one hundred and eleven 
miles, comprising an area of 32,509f square miles. 

Coasts and harbors. — The Northern, Western and 
Southern coasts are indented with numerous deep and 
safe bays ; the Eastern side presents but few suited for 
large vessels. The total number has been estimated at 
fourteen capable of harboring the largest men-of-war , 
fourteen for frigates, from thirty to forty for coasting 
vessels, twenty-five good summer roadsteads, besides in- 
numerable inlets for fishing and coastinp- craft. 

The Islands are numerous but small; total number 
one hundred and ninety-six; the largest are Rathlin 

(9) 



10 STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 

and Tory, north; Achill, Clare, the South Arran Isles and 
Valentia, west; and Whiddy and Cape Clear, south. 

Surface. — The greater part of the surface is a plain, 
not strictly level, being mostly interspersed with low 
hills. Theprincipal mountains are: Northeast, the Mourne 
mountains, in the county Down, the highest being 
Slieve Donald, 2,796 feet above high sea level; in the 
west, the mountains surrounding Clew bay, in Mayo 
county, the highest, called Muilrea, 2,638 feet high; in 
the southwest the McGillicuddy Reeks, in Kerry county, 
the highest called Garran-Tual, 3,414 feet high; in the 
east, the Wicklow mountains, the highest named, Lug- 
ganaquilla, 3,039 feet high. The interior of the country 
is intersected by several lofty ranges, among which the 
Devil's Bit, Slieve Bloom, the Galtees, Mount Leinster 
and the Black Stairs, are the most remarkable. 

The quantities of land of different elevations, are be- 
tween sea level and two hundred and fifty feet in height, 
13,242f square miles; between two hundred and fifty 
and five hundred feet, 11,797-J ; between five hundred 
and one thousand feet, 5,797-J; between one and two 
thousand feet, l,589f ; above two thousand feet, 82^. 

The Rivers are numerous; the principal is the Shan"; 
non, one hundred and fifty miles long, from Lough Al- 
len to Limerick, where it expands into an estuary of for- 
ty-five miles, opening into the Atlantic Ocean; it is nav- 
igable nearly the whole of its course. The Suir, Barrow, 
Nore, Blackwater, Slaney, Boyne, Foyle, Erne, Lee, 
Bandon, Bawn, and Moy, are all navigable to a greater 
or less extent ; smaller rivers, in numbers about one 
hundred and seventy-two, serving principally for agri- 
cultural and domestic purposes, are to be met with in 
every district. The extent of country which forms the 
basin whence the principal rivers derive their supply, 
covers 22,030 t square miles. 

The Lakes, generally called Loughs, are numerous, 
the largest Lough Neagh, in Ulster, covers 98,255 acres. 
There are also Lough Erne, Corrib, Mask, Conn, and 
the celebrated Lakes of Killarney. 

Geology. — The geological structure of Ireland has 



STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 11 

this striking peculiarity, that most of the great mountain 
ranges are near the coasts, while the central portion is an 
almost uniform plain, varied only by low hills. The pre- 
vailing formations are limestone, granite, mica-slate, clay- 
slate, old red sandstone, yellow sandstone, and basalt or 
trap. The limestone extends over the central plain, 
one hundred and fifty miles east and west from Dublin to 
Galway Bay, and one hundred and twenty miles north and 
south. Its greatest elev T ation is three hundred feet, which 
is the heio-hth of the summit levels of the canals that 
traverse it. The principal tracts of granite are those of 
Wicklow, Galway, Newry and Donegal. The mica- 
slate of Leinster [is confined to a narrow fringe edging 
the granite region of the province ; in Donegal and Gal- 
way it spreads over large tracts. The clay-slate is among 
the most important rocks, both for extent of area and val- 
uable mineral deposits. The counties of Wexford, Louth, 
Waterford, Cork and Kerry, are mostly formed of it. In 
the north it is contained in the district bounded by a 
line from Longford to Drogheda, eastward, and to Don- 
aghadee, north-eastward. At Kingscourt, Carrickma- 
cross, and Cavan, the clay-slate dips and forms 
a basin, in which the limestone and coal forma- 
tions are deposited. Slate is quarried extensively 
at Killaloe and Westport, in Clare, and in Wicklow. 
The old red sand-stone is chiefly developed in the 
south; it forms the greater part of Cork and Water- 
ford counties, and of the inland mountain ranges 
of Knockmeledoun, Commeragh and the Gal tees. It 
shows itself also in several places in Westmeath, Long- 
ford and Leitrim. A large tract of old red and yellow 
sand-stone forms the sea-coast at Killaloe, skirts by 
Loughs Conn and Cullen, and reaches the Atlantic at 
Westport. An extensive tract in Fermanagh and Tyrone 
from Lough Erne to Cookstown, has this rock for its 
basis. It is found in patches in Antrim, Derry and 
Tyrone. Crystalized gypsum occurs in Derry and 
Antrim, and selenite at Benburb. Uncrystalized gypsum 
is raised in large quantities at Carrickmacross. The 
yellow sand-stone usually accompanies the red, and rests 



12 STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 

upon it. The basalt, or trap occupies a very limited 
area, being confined almost exclusively to the northeast 
portion of the island, forming the substratum of the 
county of Antrim and of some portions of Derry and 
Armagh. 

Minerals. — The principal minerals are coal, iron, 
copper, lead, silver and gold. The coal fields are seven 
in number — one in Leinster, occupying large portions of 
Kilkenny and Queen counties, with a small part of 
Carlow; two in Munster ; one in Tipperary, bordering 
on that of Kilkenny. The other spread over large por- 
tions of Clare, Limerick, Cork and Kerry counties, 
being the most extensive development of the coal strata 
in the British Empire. All these beds lie south of 
Dublin, and yield only stone coal, or authracite. The 
remaining fields, which lie to the north of Dublin, are 
formed of bituminous or flaming coal. Of the northern 
coal-fields three are in Ulster, one at Coal Island, near 
Dungannon; the second in the northern extremity of 
Antrim county, and the third in Monaghan. The 
Conn aught coal-field extends over a space of sixteen 
miles in its greatest length and breadth in Roscommon, 
Sligo, Leitrim and Cavan counties. The total area is 
140,000 acres, and with all this wealth undeveloped, we 
may ask how it comes that official returns prove that 
over one million tons of coal are annually imported from 
England into Ireland. 

Turf or Peat. — Besides the stores of fuel, applicable 
to manufacturing and domestic uses, which lie embedded 
in the coal fields, Ireland enjoys two others, lignite and 
turf or peat. Lignite, an intermediate species of fuel, 
between wood and cool, is found in dense strata, encom- 
passing the southern half of Lough Neagh. The total 
area of turf- bog is estimated at 2,830,000 acres, nearly 
one-seventh of the surface of the island. Of this 
quantity 1,576,000 are flat bog, spread over the cen- 
tral portions of the great limestone plain. The remain- 
ing 1,254,000 are mountain-bog, spread over the hilly dis- 
tricts near the coast. 

Iron ore is found in all the localities of coal. Sir 



STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 13 

Robert Kane, an eminent authority, in his valuable work 
on "The Industrial resources of Ireland," gives a table 
of the comparative contents in metalic iron of the native 
oars, and of the English, Scotch and Welch, wherein he 
demonstrates that the Leinster and Connauo;ht ores are 
equal and even in average superior to those generally 
employed in Great Britain. 

The copper mines are distributed throughout the 
clay-slate district in a great number of localities. The 
principal are the Ballymurtagh, Conoree, Cronebane, 
and Tigroney, and Baliyaghan mines, in Wicklow coun- 
ty; the Knockmahon, Kilduane, Bonmahon, and Ballin- 
asisla, in the Waterford district, the mines of Allihies or 
Berehaven, Audley and Cosheen and Skull, in the 
South-western district, and the mines of Hollyford and 
Lackamore, in the Western district. 

Lead is more extensively diffused through Ireland 
than copper. The granitic district of Wicklow contains 
numerous veins; the principal are those of Glendalough, 
Glenmalur, Glendasane, or Luganure, and Ballyeorus. 
The clay-slate districts also yield numerous indications 
of this metal. 

Gold.— Towards the close of the last century, native 
gold was found in the bed of the streams of Croghan, 
Kinshela mountain. It was discovered by the peasants, 
who collected quantities to the value of over fifty thous- 
and dollars, in nuggets from twenty- two ounces to minute 
grains, before their proceedings were public. The dis- 
trict was taken in charge by Government agents, worked 
for about two years, and then finally abandoned. 

Native Silver was found in a bed of iron ochre in 
Cronebane, but the deposit appears to have become ex- 
hausted. It has also been lately found associated with 
the lead ore at Ballyeorus. 

Tin Stone has been found in the auriferous soil of 
Wicklow. Other minerals, useful in the arts and manu- 
factures, and found in quantities in various parts of the 
country are manganese, antimony, zinc, nickel, tin, iron 
pyrites, alum, clays of various kinds, building stone, 
marble, flags, and roofing slates. The localities of these, 



14 STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 

too numerous to find space within the scope of this work, 
and the means of their profitable application towards the 
promotion of native industry, are fully developed in the 
valuable work of Sir Robert Kane, already quoted. 

Climate. — The climate is temperate and moist; the 
crops are more frequently injured by excess of moisture 
than of aridity. Plants which require artificial heat in 
England, flourish here in the open air. This peculiarity 
of climate is not prejudicial to health; the average of life 
is much the same as in Great Britain; longevity equally 
common. The prevalent diseases are low fever and con- 
sumption. The mean temperature in the north is 48° 
Fahrenheit; in the middle, 50°; and in the south 52°. 
The quantity of rain which falls annually in Ireland, as 
deduced from observations by different authorities for a 
stated number of years, is as follows : 

Locality. 
Dublin, 
Belfast, 
Castlecomer, 
Cork, 
Cork, 
Derry, 

Dublin is the driest and Cork the wettest of the locali- 
ties in which observations have been made. 

Botany. — Ireland once had the name of the Island of 
Woods, from being covered with forests, and latterly ac- 
quired the poetical name of the Emerald Isle, from the 
perennial brilliancy of its verdure. Its Flora contains 
some rare varieties; the arbutus unedo flourishes in Kil- 
larney; new varieties of saxifrage and of ferns have been 
discovered in the mountains of Kerry; Connemara, Bel- 
bullen mountains in Sligo, and Antrim county, abound in 
scarce Alpine plants; many rare and unknown species of 
algge have been discovered on various parts of the coast. 

Zoology. — The elk or moose deer, was a native of the 
country ; its bones have been found in several places; 
wolves were once so numerous that a price was set upon 
them, and the Irish wolf-dog was kept for hunting them. 
Venomous animals are unknown. The surrounding; seas 





Authority. 


Av. of Years. 


Quantity, 


Apjohn, 

Portlock, 

Aher, 

Smith, 

Royal Inst., 

Sampson, 


6 
6 

18. 
6 
6 

7 


30.89 
34.96 
37.80 
40.20 
36.03 
31.12 



STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 15 

abound with fish, both round and flat; the sun-fish fre- 
quents the western coast; whales visit it occasionally; 
seals are common about the precipitous headlands; great 
varieties of shell-fish are taken along the shore. 

Political Divisions. — The country is divided differ- 
ently according to its political, judicial, fiscal and military 
arrangements. The ancient political divisions are oblit- 
erated, and it is now divided into the four provinces of 
Leinster, Ulster, Munster and Connaught. These are 
sub-divided into thirty-two counties, besides the eight 
small exempt jurisdictions of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, 
Kilkenny, Waterford, Galway, Carrickfergus and Drog- 
heda, the first five of which are styled counties of cities, 
the remaining three, counties of towns. The counties are 
divided into three hundred and sixteen baronies, and 
again into two thousand four hundred and twenty-two 
parishes. The smallest political divisions are called 
townlands, and in some parts of the country ploughlands. 

Government. — The executive Government is vested 
in a Lord Lieutenant, sometimes styled the Viceroy, as 
the direct representative of the British Monarch; he is 
assisted by a Privy-Council, appointed by the Crown and 
indefinite in number, the protestant bishop of Meath 
being always one ex-qfficio; and by a Chief Secretary, 
who must be member of the House of Commons. Each 
county is in charge of a Lieutenant, generally a peer, an 
indefinite number of Deputy Lieutenants and Magistrates, 
who act gratuitously; in addition, one or more Stipendiary 
Magistrates, all appointed by, and holding their commis- 
sions at the pleasure of the Crown. The counties of 
cities and towns, and the boroughs, are governed by their 
own Magistrates. The details of the execution of the laws 
are committed to the constabulary in the counties, and 
the police in Dublin. 

The Constabulary Force an armed and well drilled 
body of light infantry; consists of an Inspector General, 
two Deputy Inspectors General, two Assistant Inspectors 
General, a Receiver, Surgeon, Veterinary Surgeon, 
eighteen Paymasters, thirty -five County Inspectors, two 
hundred and forty-seven Sub-Inspectors, three hundred 



16 STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 

and thirty-two Head Constables, two thousand and ninety- 
five Constables, and nine thousand five hundred and three 
Sub-Constables; total, twelve thousand two hundred and 
twelve, with three hundred and forty-four horses. 

The Dublin Metropolitan Police Force consists 
of two Commissioners, seven Superintendents, twenty-six 
Inspectors, forty-two Detectives, one hundred and forty- 
seven Sergeants, nine hundred and ten Constables; total, 
one thousand one hundred and thirty-six. 

Representation. — The country is represented in the 
Imperial Parliament by 28 Temporal Peers, and 103 Com- 
moners, of which latter class 69 represent the 32 counties; 
2 Dublin University; 12 the cities and towns of Dublin, 
Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Belfast and Galway; and 20 
the burroughs. 

By an act passed in 1850, in addition to those persons 
previously qualified to register and vote in county elec- 
tions, occupiers of any tenements rated in the last poor 
rate at a net annual value of twelve pounds and upwards, 
are entitled to vote in elections for counties also owners 
of certain estates of the rated annual value of five pounds; 
occupiers in Burroughs rated in the last poor rate at 8 
pounds and upwards were entitled to vote subject to cer- 
tain limitations; the act passed in 1868 to amend the rep- 
resentation of the people makes no alteration in the county 
franchise, but for cities, towns and burroughs, it reduces 
the eight pound occupation to a lodging of any amount 
more than four pounds, and introduces a new franchise by 
which any lodger who has occupied as sole tenant for the 
twelve months preceeding the 20th of July, in any year 
of a clear yearly value, if let unfurnished, of ten pounds or 
upwards. 

The polling at contested elections is now for one day 
only, the number of electors on the register are 173,860; 
53,590 for cities and boroughs, exclusive of 3.323 for 
Dublin University. 

Judicial Divisions. — The judicial establishment con- 
sists of the Lord Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, 
four Judges in each of the courts of Queen's Bench, 
Common Pleas, and Exchequer, those of the Exchequer, 



STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 17 

being called Barons ; an assistant Barrister for each 
county, a Bankrupt court with two Judges, two com- 
missioners of the Insolvent's Court, the Judge of the 
Prerogative Court and of the Admiralty. The Superior 
Courts are all held in Dublin. Two of the Judges hold 
assizes for criminal and civil pleas in each county, in 
spring and summer every year, for which purpose the 
country is divided into six circuits. Two of the Judges 
also hold a general jail delivery for Dublin every six 
weeks. There are five hundred and sixty -seven Petty 
Sessions Courts in Ireland. There are thirty-four county 
prisons, ten city or town prisons, and. one hundred, and 
eleven bridewells. 

Fiscal Divisions. — The country is divided for the 
collection of Revenues, according to different arrange- 
ments in the customs, excise, transfer and post office de- 
partments. 

Military Divisions. — The staff of Ireland consists of 
the departments of Commander of the Forces, Adjutant- 
General, and Quartermaster-General ; under which are 
those of the Judge advocate and Medical Director Gen- 
eral. The military divisions are according to the follow- 
ing districts : 

For General Service. — Belfast District — Headquar- 
ters, Belfast; Dublin, ditto, Dublin; Athlone, ditto, Ath- 
lone; Limerick, ditto, Limerick; Kilkenny, ditto, Kil- 
kenny; Cork, ditto, Cork. 

For Recruiting Service. — Northern Headquarters, 
Kerry; Centre, Dublin; Southern, Cork. 

Militia. — The militia of Ireland, when embodied, con- 
sists of 12 regiments of artillery, 211 officers, 210 non- 
commissioned officers, 4,872 men; 21 regiments of in- 
fantry, 663 officers, 764 non-commissioned officers, 16,897 
men, 14 rifle corps, 351 officers, 364 non-commissioned 
officers, 8,231 men; total, 30,000 men, with 1,225 officers. 

Landed Property. 

The following table gives the several territorial divi- 
sions, and acreable extent of each province and county 
of Ireland: 

2 



18 



STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 



Territorial Divisions. 
Townland Valuation Report. 



acreable 
Extent. 



Provinces. 



Counties and 
Counties of Cities 
and Towns. 



No. 
of < 
Baronies. 



No. of 
Parishes. 



Total Area. 





f 1. Carlow 


7 


47 


221,342 




2. DroghedaT. 


— 


See No. 10 


472 




3. Dublin 


10 


99 


226,414 




4. City 


— 


— 






5. Kildare 


14 


116 


418,436 




6. Kilkenny 


11 


140 


509,732 




7. City 


— 


— 





LEINSTER. - 


8. Kings 


12 


51 


493,985 




9. Longford . 


6 


26 


269,409 




10. Louth 


6 


64 


201,434 




11. Meath 


18 


146 


579,899 




12. Queens 


11 


53 


424.8-54 




13. Westmeath 


12 


63 


453,468 




14. Wexford . 


9 


144 


576,588 




15. Wicklow . 


8 


59 


500,178 


Total . 


124 


1,008 


4,876,211 




f 1. Clare 


11 


80 


827,994 




2. Cork , 


23 


251 


1,846,383 




3. City . 


— 


— 






4. Kerry 


8 


87 


1,186,126 


MUNSTER. < 


5. Limerick . 


13 


131 


680,842 




6. City. 


— 


— 






7. Tipperary 


12 


193 


1,061,731 




1 8. Waterford 


8 


82 


461,553 


L 9. City 


75 


824 




Total, 


6,064,579 


f 1. Antrim 


15 


75 


745,177 


| 2. Armagh 


8 


28 


328,076 


1 3. Car. fergus T. 


— 


See No. 1 


16,700 


4. Cavan 


8 


36 


477,360 


m _„ J 5. Donegal . . 

ULSTER. «j 6> Down » < 


6 


51 


1,193,443 


10 


70 


612,495 


7. Fermanagh 


8 


23 


457,195 


| 8. Londonderry 


6 


43 


518,595 


9. IVlonaghan 


5 


23 


319,757 




[10. Tyrone 


4 


42 


806,640 



Total, 



70 



391 



5,475,438 



STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 



19 



CON- 
NAUGHT. ' 


1. Gal way 

2. — - Town 

3. Leitrim 

4. Mayo 

5. Roscommon 
L 6. Sligo 


18 

5 
9 
9 
6 


120 

17 
73 

58 
41 


1,566,354 

392,363 

1,363.882 

607,691 

• 461,753 


Total, 


47 


309 


4,392,043 


Total 


Ireland, 


316 


2,532 


20,808,271 



Propor- 
Division of Surface. Leinster. Munster. Ulster. Connaught. Ireland, tion to 

100. 



Arable, 

Uncultivated, . 
Plantations, . 
Towns, . . 
"Water, 


3,961,183 

731 .886 

115,944 

15,569 

51,624 

4,876,211 


3,874.613 
1.893.477 

130,415 
14,693 

151,381 


3,407,539 

1,764,370 

79,783 

8,790 

214,956 


2,220,960 

1,906.002 

48,340 

3.877 
212,864 

4.392.043 


13,464,300 

6,295,735 

374.482 

42,929 

630,825 

20.808.271 


64.7 

30.3 

1.7 

0.3 

3. 


Total, 


6,064,579 


5.475,438 


100. 



The quantity of uncultivated land is stated in the re- 
port on the Occupation of Land in Ireland, on the author- 
ity of Mr. Griffith, to be 6,290,000 acres, of which the 
improvable and unimprovable portions are: 





Leinster. 


Munster. 


Ulster. 


Connaught. 


Total. 








419,000 
629,000 
712,000 

1,760,000 


430,000 
726.000 
750,000 

1,906,000 




Improvable for Tillage, 
" Pasture, 
Unimprov?*ble, . . 


186,000 
315,000 
200,000 


390,000 
630,000 
873,000 


1 ,425,000 
2,330,000 
2,535,000 


Total, 


731,000 


1,893,000 


6,290,000 



Mr. McCulloch, in the last edition of his valuable Com- 
mercial Dictionary, gives the following account of the 
extent of land in Ireland under the principal description 
of crops, the average rate of produce per acre, the total 
produce, the amount of seed, the produce under deduc- 
tion of seed, and the total value of such produce: 



Crops. 



Acres in 
Crop. 



Produce 
per Acre. 

Qrs. 



Total 

Produce. 

Qrs. 



Wheat, 

Barley, . 

Oats, 

Potatoes, 

Fallow, 

Flax, 

Gardens, 

Total, 



450,000 

400,000 

2,5110,000 

2,000,000 

300,000 

100,000 

15 000 


3 

5 


1 .350,000 

1.400,000 

12,500,000 








5,765,000 


15,250,000 



20 



STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 



Seed, l-6th of Produce, 
Qrs. 



Produce under deduction of seed. 


Total value. 


Qrs. 




1.125,000 


£2,587,500 


1,166,667 


1,516,667 


10.416.667 


10,416,667 





12,000,000 





1,500,000 





180.000 



225,000 

233.333 

2,083,333 



1,820 " 


12.55 


1,734 « 


8.85 


.3,669 " 


9.73 



12,708,334 £28,200,834 

The average crops of the cultivated land, as calculated 
from those of the nine agricultural districts into which 
Wakefield classes Ireland, are as follows, per statute 
acre: 

Wheat, 142 lbs. seed give 1,300 lbs. or 9.15 lbs. for 1. 
Barley, 145 " 

Oats, 196 " 

Potatoes, 1,404 " 

Population — By report of Census Commissioners in 
1841, 8,196,597—1851, 6,574,278; 1861, 5,798,967; 1871, 
5,412,377. The total population on the night of the 2d 
of April, 1871, amounted to 5. 412,377; the sexes being 
2,639,753 males, 2,772,624 females, or 386,590 less than 
that returned for the 7th of April 1861, being a decrease 
of 66.7 per cent, during the last ten years. These num- 
bers include the men of the army and navy serving in 
Ireland on the night of the 2d of April, 1871, as well as 
the wives and families of such persons. 

The following is the summary by provinces of the num- 
ber of persons in the four last enumerations: 



Provinces. 



1841. 



Population. 
1851. 1861. 



1S71. 



Leinster, 

MUNSTEE, 

Ulster, 
connaught, 



1,982,169 
2,404,460 
2,389,263 
1.420,705 


1.682,320 
1,865,600 
2.013,879 
1,012,479 


1,457.635 

1,513.558 

1,914,236 

913,135 


1,339,451 

1,393,485 

1,833,228 

846,213 



Totals, 



S,196.597 6,574,278 5,798,967 5,412,377 



Decrease 1841 to 1851. Decrease 
Provinces. Persons. Kate per ct. Persons. 



1851 to 1861. 
Eate per ct. 



Decrease 1861 to 1871 
Persons. Rate per ct. 



Leinster, 


299,849 


15.13 


224,685 


13.36 


118,184 


8.11 


MtJNSTER, 


538,860 


22.41 


352,042 


18.87 


120,073 


7.93 


Ulster, 


375,384 


15.71 


99,643 


4.95 


81.208 


4.23 


CONNAUGHT, 


408,226 


38,73 


99,344 


9.81 


66.922 


7.33 



1,622,319 19.79 775,714 11.79 386,590 6.67 

Between 1841 and 1851 the population decreased about 1.5, 1,979 persons in every 100; 
from 1851 to 1861. 11.79: and from 1861 to 1871. 6.67 per cent. 



STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 21 

Birthplaces op the People. — Distributed as to 
birthplace, the inhabitants of Ireland returned in the 
census report range into three classes, viz: natives in 
Ireland residing in other than their native counties ; 
secondly, natives of Great Britain, and thirdly, persons 
born abroad. Dealing firstly with the movement of the 
Irish born population, it appears that of the total number 
of inhabitants in 1871, 500,798, or 94 per cent, na- 
tives of Ireland, resided elsewhere than in their native 
counties ; 88,199 persons, native of Great Britain, in- 
cluding 67,881 natives of England and Wales, 2,318 
natives of Scotland, were included in the population of 
Ireland upon the census night, and there were 17,010 
persons comprising 8,367 natives of the colonies and 
India, 8,643 foreigners. While, lastly, 411 persons 
enumerated in Ireland in 1871, were returned as born at 
sea. A decline of seven per cent, in the number of 
children between the ages of one and five years, took 
place between the years 1861 and 1871, whereas between 
1851 and 1861 an increase of nine per cent, had taken 
place. The number of centenarians returned on the cen- 
sus forms, in 1871 amounted to 724 — 259 males, 465 fe- 
males. Of this number 89 were in the province of Lein- 
ster, 288 in Munster, 225 Ulster, 122 in Connaught. 

Dwellings of the people. — The census commissioners 
of 1841 divided the dwellings of the people into four 
classes. The fourth class comprised all mud cabins 
having only one room; the third class consisted of a bet- 
ter description built of mud, but varying from two to 
four rooms and windows; the second were good farm 
houses, or in town, houses having from five to nine rooms 
and windows; the first class included all houses of a bet- 
ter description. The following table shows the house 
accommodation in Ireland in 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871: 

NUMBER OF INHABITED HOUSES. 



First Class, 
Second Class, 
Third Class, . 
Fourth Class, 


1841. 

40,080 

. 264,184 

. 533,297 

. 491,278 


1851. 

50,164 
318, 7:,8 
541,712 
135,589 


1861. 
55,416 

360,698 

489,668 

89,374 


1871. 

60,919 
387,660 
357,126 
155,675 



Total, 1,328,839 1,046,223 995,156 961,380 



22 STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 

Taking the inhabited houses for the whole of Ireland 
there were 11.0 families in each house; in 1851 11.5 fami- 
lies; in 1861, 11.3, and in 1871, 11.1. 

Families. — The total number of persons returned in 
1871 as heads of families with their children, were 4,307,- 
101, of whom 2,155,578 were males, 2,151,523 females; 
residing with these 816,365 visitors, 368,240 were males 
and 448,125 females; the servants numbered 288,911 
persons, of whom 115,935 were males, 172,976 were 
females. The proportion per cent, of heads of families 
and their children to the population was in 1871, 82 
males and 78 females. Combinedly 80 persons in every 
100 were returned as heads of families with their chil- 
dren. The proportion in 1841 was 81; in 1851, 79, and 
in 1861, 82 per cent. The decrease in the number of 
families is most apparent in the counties of Waterford, 
Limerick, Tipperary, Kings and Kilkenny. It has been 
least in the province of Ulster, where it only amounts to 
9,652 of 2.6 per cent.; and increase of the number of 
families has* taken place in the towns of Belfast and Cor- 
rickfergus, the city of Dublin and the counties of Dub- 
lin, Antrim, Armagh and Sligo. The average number 
of persons to a family was 5.54 in the year 1841; in 1851, 
5.44; in 1861, 5.14, and in 1871, 5.07. In the city of Dub- 
lin, within the municipal boundary, while the population 
has decreased 8,482 persons, the number of inhabited 
houses has increased by 1,027. 

Condition as to Marriage. — Of the total popula- 
tion of 1871, of those 17 years of age and upwards, 
amounting to 3,272,052 persons, 1,348,418, or 41.2 in 
every 100, were unmarried; 1,564,339 — 47.8 per cent, 
married, and 359,295 — 11.0 per cent, widowed. Com- 
pared with the returns of 1851 and 1861, the portion of 
the unmarried was less in 1871 than at either of the 
two former periods. Of the Provinces, Leinster had the 
largest relative number — 45.2 per cent, of bachelors 
and spinsters in 1871; Ulster was next in order, with 
43.0 per cent.; Munster followed by 37.4 per cent., and 
Connaught with only 36.6 per cent. Leinster and 



STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 23 

Munster had the largest proportion of widowers and 
widows, and Ulster and Connaught the least. 

Sanitary Condition of the People. — The follow- 
ing table shows the number of people sick at the date 
of taking the census, April 2, 1871: Sick at their own 
homes in civic districts, 5,556; in rural districts, 34,198 [ 
sick in Infirmaries, Hospitals, Lunatic Asylums, ' Jails, 
etc., 12,080; sick in Work-house and Work-house Hos- 
pital, 19,778. Total, 71,612; being a per centage of 
1.3 to the population. 

Deaf and dumb, idiotic, blind and lunatic. — The 
following is the ratio of the deaf and dumb, blind, lu- 
natic, and idiotic: 

1851. 1861. 1871. 
Deaf and dumb, one person in every ' 1,265 1,026 974 

Blind, " " " 864 843 Shi 

Insane, " " " 1,*91 821 554 

Idiotic, " " " 1,336 825 802 

Occupation. — The following table shows the occupa- 
tions of the people in Ireland in 1871: 

CLASS. MALES. FEMALES. TOTAL. 

First, professional, 115,115 37,745 152,860 
Second, domestic, 34,517 705,678 717,495 
Third, commercial, 88,464 17,155 105,619 
Fourth, agriculture, 891,890 170,118 1,062,008 
Fifth, industrial, 288,894 249,241 538,135 
Sixth, indefinite and non-pro- 
ductive, 1,220,873 1,592,687 2,813,560 

Totals, 2,639,753 2,272,624 5,412,377 

The latter class now comprises a large number of per- 
sons of no stated occupation, and children and scholars 
under fifteen years of age, who in previous reports had 
been tabulated under class two. 

Education. — The total number of persons 5 years old 
and upwards in 1841, who were unable to read and write, 
was 3766,066; of 53 per cent, in 1851, the proportion had 
fallen to 47 per cent., and in 1861 it was further reduced 
to 39 per cent., and in 1871 to 33 per cent, showing a 
decrease during the period of 1841 and 1871 of 20 per 



24 STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 

cent.; those who could read only, were on the same pro- 
portion in 1861, as in 1851, 20 per cent., which was an in- 
crease of 1 per cent, only since 1841; in 1871 the per- 
centage was 17.3; those who could write as well as read, 
advanced from 28 per cent, in 1841, to 33 in 1851, and to 
41 in 18G1, being an increase, between 1851 and 1861 of 
8 per cent., and between 1841 and 1861 of 13 per cent. 
In 1871 the percentage was 49, being an increase between 
1861 and 1871 of 8 per cent., and between 1841 and 
1871 of as much as 21 per cent. 

Proprietors of Land in Ireland in 1870. — The to- 
tal number of proprietors — a parliamentary return — was 
19,547, owning 20,046,182 acres. Of this number, 2,973 
are absentee proprietors, owning 5,129,169 acres, the an- 
nual value of which, for taxing purposes, is $2,470,816. 
This return, it should be noted, is confined only to the 
owners of property in country or rural districts; the own- 
ers of all lands and buildings in cities, towns and town- 
ships, have not been acertained. 

Emigration from Ireland. — In the decennial period 
ending with 1861, 1,227,710 Irish born persons emigrated 
from Ireland; and in the ten years from 1st April, 1861, 
to 31st March, 1871, 819,903 Irish born persons emi- 
gratedfrom different ports. To emigration may chiefly 
be attributed the decrease of population, during a period 
when the country was remarkably free from any outbreak 
of pestilence, scarcity of food, or of the other social ca- 
lamities, which have occasionally retarded the growth of 
population in this and other countries. It must also be 
remembered that some of the remote effects of the disas- 
trous period of famine, pestilence and panic, which com- 
menced with the potato blight of 1845-46, had extended 
over the first few years of the decade of 1851. Assuming 
that the inciease of population by births over deaths was 
at the rate of 92 per cent, per annum, as stated in former 
census reports emanating from this country, the popula- 
tion of Ireland would — had no disturbing cause interven- 
ed—have been about 6,297,275. It is therefore proba- 



STATISTICS OF IRELAND. 25 

ble that the decrease of the population may be accounted 
for by the very great emigration as stated above. 

Paupers. — It is here worthy of remark, that at the time 
of taking the census in 1851, there was no less than 250,- 
611 paupers in the Irish workhouses, and 47,019 persons 
in hospital, of whom 4,545 were not work-house inmates; 

that in 1861, the numbers in work-houses, healthy and 

sick, were only 50,010, while there were but 48,989 per- 
sons in the Irish work-houses the day before the census 
was taken in 1871. 



THE CASE OF IRELAND STATED. 



ANTIQUITY OF ITS CIVILIZATION. 

Much has been written and sung concerning the pre- 
historic days and men of Ireland. Tradition tells us of 
successive descents upon the Island by people from the 
East, each successive colony exterminating its prede- 
cessor. Though the Romans occupied England during 
seyeral centuries they never crossed the channel to Ire- 
land. Consequently Irish history lacks that confirma- 
tion or evidence which the Romans left concerning 
England and the other lands they conquered during the 
wide extension of their Empire. The first government 
of which any mention is made is that of a monarchy. 
The rulers were kings, and the bards, judges and other 
officials were taken from the Druid priests; of course the 
military chieftain was conspicious. Druidism was the 
religion of the Pagan days. What is known of these 
ages is but the story of a succession of wars, including 
military excursions on the continent for prey or for hire, or 
perhaps for both. It was on one of these military adven- 
tures into Gaul,that among the captured prisoners brought 
into Ireland,was a lad,who in after days became the Chris- 
tian Apostle, whose name is so indelibly impressed upon 
the hearts of the Irish people, — the great Saint Patrick. 
The story runs that Patrick was a native of Gaul; that 
King Nial captured him with other prisoners, who were 
taken to Ireland and made slaves; that he was placed in 
charge over flocks. This was about A. D. 405; seven 
years later he was made free; after his return to Britany 
he entered the Christian priesthood, and in 432 he came 



FORM OF EARLY GOVERNMENT. 27 

back to Ireland, preaching to his pagan captors the reli- 
gion of the Savior. St. Patrick's life extended until the 
year 493, and thus he witnessed the conversion of the 
whole people, and the establishment of the Christian 
faith. 

During the days of Patrick, the constitution or su- 
preme law of Ireland was compiled. At that time the 
island was divided into four provinces, in each of which 
was a king; a fifth principality was held by a king, superior 
in rank and authority, and monarch of all Ireland. Each 
province had its numerous chieftains. These kings were 
elective, but always taken from the nobility. The crown 
of Ireland, from the time of the conversion by St. Pat- 
rick, was held by the family subsequently known as 
O'Neill, during the first five Christian centuries. Yet 
during all this time the monarch was chosen by an elec- 
tion of the inferior kings and princes. An annual assem- 
bly of the dignitaries of the kingdom was held during 
the time of the Druids, the chief priests holding high 
rank in the national council. The monarch presided, 
and besides the priests were the chiefs and military 
champions. Subsequently the Christian clergy took the 
places in these assemblies, formerly held by the Druids. 
The constitution recited the privileges and rights of the 
five kings, and also set forth with great particularity the 
prohibitions or restraints upon the prerogatives of roy- 
alty. 

As early as 258 there was an emigration from Ireland 
to Scotland; others followed, and these migrations con- 
tinued from time to time until in 503 the Irish had es- 
tablished a numerous settlement in Rosshire and Perth. 
The later colonists were Christians, and in 565 St. Co- 
lumba, of the Royal family of O'Neill of Ireland, accom- 
panied by other Christian priests, crossed over into Scot- 
land, and there successfully Christianized the inhabitants, 
including the Irish colonists as well as„the Picts, andoth- 
ers inhabiting Scotland. 

In the year 797 occurred the first invasion of Ireland 
by the Danes. Preceding this time, however, Ireland 
had made great material progress. Though essentially a 



28 THE LAND WAS THE PROPERTY OF THE CLANS. 

military monarchy, and all bearing allegiance and fealty 
to the monarch, there was a vast difference between that 
fealty and the feudalism of subsequent times. 

THE LAND WAS NOT THE PROPERTY OF THE KING; 

nor was it the property of the chieftain or local subordinate 
Prince. It was the property of the clan, or the family, 
and was held for the common benefit of the clan. Those 
who worked or cultivated it, though not holding it by an 
exclusive or individual right or title, held it as members 
of a community, and could not be dispossessed nor be 
deprived of the fruits of their labor. 

In the centuries from the conversion of the Irish, to the 
Danish invasion, Ireland had been blessed with many 
able, learned and wise men. Christianity had removed 
many of the barbarous practices of Druidism, and Chris- 
tianity had softened the hearts of the people by the gen- 
tler doctrines of the Prince of Peace. The clergy, them- 
selves an educated class, established and encouraged 

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS. 

The teacliers for these schools were the product of the 
monasteries of Ireland and of Scotland. So great was 
the celebrity attained through Europe by these schools 
that thousands of pupils were sent thither from all 
parts of the continent. It is claimed that during the 
period from the year 550 to 750, the schools of Ire- 
land had attained great eminence. McGee writes, 
concerning the intellectual leadership in Western Europe: 
" From the middle of the sixth to the middle of the 
eighth century, it will hardly be disputed that the lead- 
ership devolved on Ireland. All the circumstances of the 
sixth century helped to confer it upon the newly con- 
verted western isle; the number of her schools, and the 
wisdom, energy and zeal of her masters, retained for her 
the proud distinction for two hundred years. And when 
it passed away from her grasp, she might still console 
herself with the grateful reflection that the power she had 
founded and exercised was divided among British and 
continental schools, which her own alumni had largely 



STATE OF EDUCATION UNDER NATIVE GOVERNMENT. 29 

contributed to form and establish." A long list of the 
principal schools in successful operation, and liberally 
endowed by private contribution, is of record in all the 
histories of that time. These large educational estab- 
lishments were generally located on the banks of rivers, 
in order to be easy of access. The}?" were free schools, 
giving in addition to instruction, free board and lodging and 
books to all from foreign lands. These scholastic establish- 
ments were extensive, and several of them were attended 
at times by one, two, and even as high as seven thousand 
students. Students and teachers formed the population 
of large villages. The buildings (of wood) were erected 
in long lines forming streets. The students, besides the 
Irish, spoke " the tongues of the Gaul, the Cimbri, the Pict, 
the Saxon, and Frank." The curriculum included "the 
languages of the country, and the language of the Ro- 
man church; the languages of scripture — Greek and He- 
brew; the logic of Aristotle, the writings of the Fathers, 
the defective physics of the period ; mathematics, music, 
and poetical composition." A writer says: " When we 
remember that all the books were manuscripts ; that even 
paper had not yet been invented ; that the best parch- 
ment was equal to so much beaten gold, and a perfect 
MS. was worth a King's ransom, we may better estimate 
the difficulties in the way of the scholar of the seventh 
century." 

The glory, the peace and the high intellectual charac- 
ter of Ireland at this time was soon to be disturbed. 
From 794 to £24, the Island was subjected to 

INVASIONS BY THE DANES. 

These hardy mariners, the pirates of that age, would 
leave their homes in the early spring, land on the coasts of 
the islands and mainlands, live riotously during the sum- 
mer, and in the fall carry back with them the spoils of the 
Summer. In 830, they sacked and burned the school 
buildings at Bangor (Belfast) then the largest established 
college in Ireland. They captured nearly all the cities, 
but not until 837 did they undertake a permanent lodg- 
ment in the country, remaining there during the winter. 



30 INVASIONS OF THE NORSEMEN. 

" To the Vikings of Norway the fertile Island," writes an 
historian, " with which they were now so familiar, whose 
woods were bent with the autumnal load of acorns, mast 
and nuts, and filled with numerous herds of swine — their 
favorite food — whose pleasant meadows were well stored 
with beeves and oxen, whose winter was often as mild as 
their northern summer, and whose waters were as fruit- 
ful in fish as their own Lofoden friths; to these men this 
was a prize worth fighting for; and for it they fought long 
and desperately." The first invaders were from Norway, 
and these predatory visitations continued from 794 to 847. 
Then the expeditions were sometimes of Danes, again of 
Norwegians, and frequently of both, and their settlements 
became more and more permanent. For a period, the 
Scandinavian incursions were less frequent. The wars 
of Harold the " Fair haired" King of Norway, kept his 
fighting countrymen at home, but at the same time many 
of his vanquished Danish, Swedish and Norwegian ene- 
mies found refuge and permanent lodgment in Ireland. 
They recruited their colonies diligently. From this time 
out, whatever may have been the original home of the in- 
vaders, they were all styled Danes. After the death of 
the Irish King, Flan of the Shannon in 916, the active 
war with the Danes, then in possession of a large part of 
the Island, was renewed. In the 150 years that followed 
the first invasion by the Northmen, there had been many 
changes in their relations to the native Irish, while the 
peaceful character of the Irish, their pastoral habits and 
pursuits, and especially their cultivated and educated 
tastes and acquirements had given way and perished un- 
der the demoralizing presence of perpetual war with a 
pagan people. Speaking an unknown tongue, and hav- 
ing nothing in common with the native race, the Irish 
had become a more warlike people, and these wars de- 
veloped many able military as well as civil rulers. Dur- 
ing this time the resident Scandinavians could not fail to 
be impressed with the surroundings in the new land in 
which they had sought a home. They begun to mingle 
with the Christians, and christianized Scandinavians, 
especially those born in the Island, soon, by marriage, 



THE BATTLE AT CLONTARF, A. D. 1014. 31 

established closer ties with the natives, and acquired the 
language of the Irish. Thus, in the year 980, the chris- 
tianized Danes, — those born in Ireland accepting Ireland 
as their home and country, nevertheless, the general 
scheme of the conquest of Ireland by the Norsemen, and 
the establishment there of a Scandinavian dynasty, was 
never abandoned. The race had been everywhere suc- 
cessful. They had conquered in England and Wales. 
They held the Orkneys arid all the northern isles. They 
had alliances with Scotland, which had become a depen- 
dent country. 

From A. D. 1005 to A. D. 1010, were years of peace in 
Ireland, the great Brian having united in his own person the 
royal power of Ireland. A domestic dissension in 1010, 
led to a combination between the discontented Irish and 
the ambitious Earl of Orkney, and preparations were at 
once begun for an united effort to conquer Ireland. Four 
years were occupied, during which the whole Danish 
powers labored to so strengthen Seguin of Orkney that 

he might be placed on the throne of Ireland. 
* 

THE GREAT BATTLE WAS FOUGHT AT CLONTARF, 

on Good Friday, A. D. 1014.] It began at dawn and 
ended at sunset. King Brian, whose name is immortal in 
Irish hearts and Irish annals, was murdered at his tent by 
a retreating body of Danes. The carnage was terrific. 
Though occasional visits were made at intervals, the 
" conquest of Ireland" by the Danes ended at Clontarf, 
220 years after the first landing on the Island. With the 
death of the great Brian, at Clontarf, in the hour when 
Ireland had triumphed forever over the danger of Danish 
conquests, and was forever freed from the armed presence 
of the Northmen who had menaced her for over 200 
years. Ireland realized the weakness to which these cen- 
turies of continued war had reduced her. For seven 
years after Brian's death, Malachy II reigned by general 
consent; what followed is thus forcibly summarized by 
McGee: 

"For a hundred and fifty years after the death of Malachy 
II, the history of Ireland is mainly the history of these 



82 INVASION OF THE ANGLO-NORMANS. 

five families, O'Neills, O'Melaghlins, McMurroughs, O'- 
Briens and O'Connors, and for ages after the Normans 
enter on the scene the same provincialized spirit, the 
same family ambitions, feuds, hates and coalitions, with 
some exceptional passages, characterize the whole his- 
tory; not that there will be found any want of heroism or 
piety, or self-sacrifice, or of any virtue or faculty, neces- 
sary to constitute a State, save and except the power of 
combination alone." 

EXIT THE DANES. ENTER THE NORMANS. 

Following Clontarf, Ireland was a prey to the rivalry of 
provincial chiefs. The claim to the monarchy was asserted 
by every claimant for the provincial thrones. The military 
spirit that had grown powerful enough to expel the Dane, 
had destroyed the national spirit, and the country was 
torn by perpetual and vindictive domestic strife. Edu- 
cation, religion, industry, the domestic virtues — all had 
felt the baleful effects of civil war. While this natural 
demoralization and disintegration was going on in Ire- 
land, a momentous change was taking place ir* England. 
Fifty years after Brian was laid in his tomb, William of 
Normandy had invaded, conquered, and was crowned 
King of England. He brought with him to his new do- 
minion, a new language, new laws, new institutions, new 
systems, and a new governing class. In 1066 he was 
proclaimed King of England, and his successors hold 
sovereign rule there to the present day. He took no 
notice of Ireland ; his time was divided between his new 
and his ancestral dominions. While Ireland was weaken- 
ing daily, her disunited sons were doing the work of the 
Normans for them. During the reigns of William, Henry 
I and Stephen, extending from 1066 to 1154, a period of 
88 years, the Normans were too busily engaged at home 
to devote much time to Irish conquest, though it was 
always a part of their policy. 

In 1154, the war of succession in England termina- 
ted in the 

ACCESSION OF HENRY II, 

the first of the Plan taganets. This prince was the mostpol- 



INVASION OF THE ANGLO-NORMANS. 33 

itic of his day. He had married the divorced wife of Louis 
VII, of France, and was rich by her possessions in Aqui- 
taine. He at once turned his attention to Ireland. Simul- 
taneous with his succession to the crown of England, 
Adrian IV was elected Pope. Adrian was an Englishman 
by birth. Henry and he sustained the most intimate rela- 
tions. Complaints had been made to the Pope that the 
general decay in Ireland had extended to the church, 
and that a rigorous discipline was needed in the Island. 
Whatever may have been the inducement or the repre- 
sentations made, Pope Adrian granted to Henry a 
license to invade Ireland, that the people and the church 
of the latter might be reformed in their morals and 
otherwise. v This permit, cession or whatever it might be 
called, was granted almost immediately after the simul- 
taneous election of Adrian in Rome, and the succession 
of Henry in England. The authority, whatever may 
have been its purport or intent, was not acted on until a 
much later day, and the story of the direct inducement 
to the first Norman aggression was briefly stated as fol- 
lows: 

Derm id McMurrough, King of Leinster, corrupted the 
integrity of O'Ruark, one of his nobles, and was expelled 
the country. He fled to England ; King Henry was 
absent, on his wife's estates in France. Dermid fol- 
followed him to that place, and there asked aid of the 
English King in the recovery of his royalty, and offering, 
in return, his support of England's conquest. Henry 
gave him a royal letter authorizing all his subjects, so 
disposed, to enlist in the service of the Irish prince. 
With this letter Dermid returned to England, and began 
his recruiting in the city of Bristol, and in North Waies. 
The prince of North Wales was the nephew of the cele- 
brated Vesta, the Helen of the Welsh. Her story is in- 
separable from that of the Norman Conquest of Ireland. 
She was in her day the most famous beauty in the land. 
As a girl she had won the admiration of King Henry. Two 
of her sons, Robert Fitzroy and Henry Fitz Henry, were 
recognized by their royal father. She subsequently was 
married by the King to Gerald, whose sons were Fitz- 
3 



34 THE NORMAN SETTLEMENT. 

geralds ; Stephen, her second husband, whose children 
were Fitzstephens ; several of her daughters married. 
Whose children were the founders of other families whose 
names bore the prefix of Fitz. 

Besides those mentioned, the Norman branches were the 
Fitzwilliams, of England and Wales, and the Geraldines, 
Graces, Fitzhenries and Fitzmaurices, of Ireland. 
These were all brave and gallant soldiers, adventurers, 
and ripe for any expedition offering profit or glory. These 
persons all enlisted under Dermid. At Bristol he met 
the Earl of Pembroke, or Richard de Clare. From the 
strength of his arms he was popularly called Strong-bow. 
He was a widower. Dermid and he made terms — the 
town of Waterford and cantreds of land adjoining was 
to be given to the English adventurers ; large grants of 
land were guaranteed to all men of the rank of knights, 
and Strong-bow was to be rewarded with the hand of the 
daughter of the King of Leinster, with the right of suc- 
cession to the throne. With this force of adventurers, 
and with such archers and men-at-arms as they could 
muster, Dermid landed in Ireland late in 1167. In the 
following May, Fitzstephens and others arrived with ad- 
ditional forces. 

THUS WAS BEGUN THE CONQUEST OF IRELAND, 

Over seven hundred years ago, and during those seven 
hundred years the Irish have unavailingly protested 
against the subjugation, the confiscation, the cruelty and 
relentless severity with which they have been pursued by 
their conquerors. 

It is not the purpose of this sketch to deal with the de- 
tails of the Norman-Irish struggle. Henry II visited Ire- 
land in person in 1171, and "accepted" the submission 
and homage of the nobles and people. But there had 
been no serious pretense that England had established, or 
Ireland had accepted, a supremacy. In the meantime, 
the conquest went on, in one form or another. The 
Normans, who had settled in Ireland, found it difficult 
to enforce their feudal claims, so, successively, they took • 
their place as part of the Irish people, married and inter- 



HENRY VIII ACKNOWLEDGED KING OF IRELAND. 3o 

married, and became as Irish in all things as the native 
Irish. Henry II died in 1189. During the long reign 
of his successors, down to the death of Henry VII, in 
1509, a period of 320 years, the work of conquest went 
on, slowly, but progressively. In 1509 Henry VIII 
became King of England, with Wolsey as his minister. 
The policy of the minister was to attract the support of 
the native chieftains and families as opposed to the 
Anglo-Irish. The purely English occupation of Ireland 
was reduced to small proportions. Nevertheless, at the 
time of the death of Wolsey, the condition of Ireland 
was such that a feelino- in favor of a recognition of 
Henry as King of Ireland, had become general with all 
classes, and so,when in June, 1541, a parliament was sum- 
moned, it was largely attended. It embraced represen- 
tatives of every class and of every faction in Ireland. 
Within three days bills were passed declaring that Henry 
VIII and his heirs should be king in Ireland ; and in 
June 19, 1541, the royalty of Ireland was transferred to 
the English royal family. This act was confirmed by the 
English parliament in 1542, and the union of the two 
nations was complete. There were many Irish, however, 
who took no part in this action, and separate treaties 
were made with many of those families, but still a few 
refused to the last. 

One of the first acts of Henry, following this election 
of himself as king, and the incorporation of Ireland as an 
appendage to the crown of England, was to distribute 
honors. The Irish chieftains were called to London, and 
in July, 1543, a part of them were created English earls. 
The honors were not empty ones. Among them he dis- 
tributed grants of the lands, abbeys, and monasteries pre- 
viously taken from the church, their own English law and 
English institutions were henceforth to become the law 
and institutions of Ireland. The creation of the new peers 
and the issue of new patents superseding all other titles 
to the land, involved a legal annihilation of the ancient 
land law of Ireland, and the substitution therefor of the 
feudal sj^stem of land tenure, which to-day afflicts the 
Irish people. 



36 ANCIENT IRISH TENANTRY. 

"We know what the present law is, but what the tenure 
under which land was held in Ireland down to the date 
of Henry's sweeping assumption of sovereignty, is thus 
correctly stated by McGee, in his history of Ireland. 
(Vol. 1, p. 363.) 

By the Breton law every member of a free claim was 
as truly a proprietor of the tribe land as the chief him- 
self. He could sell his share, or the interest in it, to any 
other member of the tribe — the origin, perhaps, of what 
is now called tenant right; he could not, however, sell to 
a stranger without the consent of the tribe and the chief. 

The stranger coming in under such an arrangement, 
held by a special tenure, yet if he remained during the 
life-time of three lords he became duly naturalized. If 
the unnaturalized tenant withdrew of his own will froni 
the land, he was'obliged to leave all his improvements be- 
hind ; but if he was ejected he was entitled to get their 
full value. 

Those who were immediate tenants of the chief, or of 
the Church, were debarred this privilege of tenant right, 
and if unable to keep their holdings were obliged to sur- 
render them unreservedly to the Church or the chief. 

All the tribesmen, according to the extent of thjair pos- 
sessions, were bound to maintain the chief's household, 
and to sustain him, with men and means, in his offensive 
and defensive wars. 

Such were, in brief, the land laws in force over three- 
fourths of the country (all outside that actually held by 
the English) in the sixteenth century ; laws which par- 
took largely of the spirit of an ancient patriarchal justice, 
but which, in ages of movement, exchange and enterprise, 
would have been found the reverse of favorable to indi- 
vidual freedom and national strength. There were not 
wanting, we may be assured, many minds to whom this 
truth was apparent, as early as the age of Henry VHIth ; 
and it may not be unreasonable to suppose that one 
of the advantag-es which the chief found in exchanging: 

O Oct 

his patriarchal position for a feudal Earldom would be 
the greater degree of independence of the will of the 
tribe, which the new system conferred on him. With the 



ANCIENT LAND LAWS OF IRELAND. 37 

mass of the clansmen, however, for the very same reason 
the change was certain to be unpopular if not odious. 

That this was substantially the system of land tenure 
in Ireland at the date when Henry the VIHth assumed 
feudal proprietorship can hardly be doubted. It was not 
only the law at that time, but the underlying principles 
of that law had been in force and recognized in Ireland 
from the earliest date. These principles were that the 
land belonged to the people collectively, or to members 
of the tribes collectively; and that by allotment, or other 
mode of decision, each cultivator had a certain share of 
this land, which he held in severalty as against all others, 
and over this he had a proprietary interest, which he 
could sell, or hire out, or which he might dispose of by 
gift, or distribution among his family or otherwise, ail of 
which were of course subject to conditions varying 
through several centuries and modified by the influences 
of time, and the circumstances of the country. 

Sir Henry Sumner Maine, the eminent English writer, 
in his work on "Early History of Institutions," devotes a 
large part of his work to an examination of the recently 
published translation of 

ANCIENT LAWS OF IRELAND, 

the collection known as the Brehon laws. He has exam- 
ined them closely and critically, and has no hesitation in 
declaring that they establish the existence of a personal 
proprietorship of the lands by those who occupied and 
cultivated them, and that this ownership included the 
legal right of alienation. A few extracts from this Eng- 
lish writer will confirm the statement already given as to 
the law of land tenure in Ireland from the earliest times 
down to the date when the laws of the country were 
swept, like the land, by the Anglo-Norman conquerors, 
and the present feudal proprietorship, together with the 
Anglo-Norman feudal lords, were established in Ireland. 
"Let me now state the impression which, partly from 
the examination of the translated texts, legal and non 
legal, and partly by the aid of Dr. Sullivan's introduc- 
tion, I have formed of the agrarian organization of an 



38 ANCIENT IRISH TENANTRY. 

Irish tribe. It has been long settled, in all probability, 
upon the tribal territory. It is of sufficient size and im- 
portance to constitute a political unit, and possibly at its 
apex is one of the numerous chieftains whom the Irish 
records call kings. The primary assumption is that the 
whole of the tribal territory belongs to the whole of the 
tribe, but in fact large portions of it have been perma- 
nently appropriated to minor bodies of tribesmen; a part 
is allotted in a special way to the chief as appurtenant to 
his office, and descends from chief to chief, according to a 
special rule of succession. Other portions are occupied 
by fragments of the tribe, some of which are under minor 
chiefs or 'flaiths', while others, though not strictly ruled 
by a chief, have somebody of a noble class to act as their 
representative. 

"All the unappropriated tribe-lands are in a more espec- 
ial way the property of the tribe as a whole, and no portion 
can theoretically be subjected to more than a temporary 
occupation. Such occupations are, however, frequent, 
and among the holders of the tribe-land, on these terms, 
are groups of men calling themselves tribesmen, but being 
in reality associations formed by contract, chiefly for the 
purpose of pasturing cattle. Much of the common 
tribe-land is not occupied at all, but constitutes, to use 
the English expression, the ' waste ' of the tribe. Still 
this waste is constantly brought under tillage, or perma- 
nent pasture by settlements of tribesmen, and upon it 
cultivators of servile status are permitted to squat, par- 
ticularly towards the border. It is the part of the 
territory over which the authority of the chief tends 
to steadily increase, and here it is that he settles his 
* fuid-hir,' or stranger-tenants, a very important class — 
the outlaws and c broken ' were from other tribes who 
come to him for protection, and who are only connected 
with their new tribe by their dependence on its chief, and 
through the responsibility which he incurs for them." 
pp. 92-93." 

ANCIENT IRISH TENANTRY. 

Sir Henry Maine, having thus pictured the composi- 
tion of the Irish tribe, and pointed out its constituents, 



ANCIENT IRISH TENANTRY. 39 

draws from the Brehon laws the relations of those tribal 
classes holding inferior position towards the other mem- 
bers of the tribe. In the extract just quoted, he 
mentions the stranger-tenants; at page 175, he thus fur- 
ther describes them. 

" Now the Fuidhir tenant was exclusively a dependent 
of the chief, and was through him alone connected with 
the tribe. The responsibility for crime, which in the nat- 
ural state of Irish society attached to the family or tribe, 
attached in the case of the Fuidhir, to the chief, who in 
fact became to this class of tenants that which their orisr- 
inal tribesmen or kindred had been. Moreover the land 
which they cultivated in their place of refuge was not 
theirs but his. They were the first * tenants at will ' 
known in Ireland, and there is no doubt that they were 
always theoretically rackrentable. The ' three rents,' 
says the Sencheesmer, are the ' rackrent from a person of a 
strange tribe, a fair rent from one of the tribe, and the 
stipulated rent which is paid equally by the tribe and 
the strange tribe.' ' The person from a strange tribe ' is 
undoubtedly the Fuidhir, and though the Irish expression 
•translated 'rackrent' cannot, of course, in the ancient 
state of relation between population and land, denote an 
extreme competitive rent; it certainly indicates an 
extreme rent; since in one of the glosses it is graph- 
ically compared to the milk of a cow which is com- 
pelled to give milk every month to the end of the 
year; at the same time there is no reason to suppose that, 
in the first instance, the Fuidhir tenants were oppres- 
sively treated b} 7- the chiefs. The chief had a strong in- 
terest in encouraging them ; ' he brings in Fuidhirs,' says 
one of the tracts,' 4 to increase his wealth.'" 

In another paragraph Sir Edward Maine further de- 
fines the status of the class of persons who alone were the 
"tenants at will" in Ireland under the Irish law. He 
says, page 172-3: 

"There is evidence in the tracts, (Brehon) and es- 
pecially in the unpublished (now published) tract called 
the 'Corus Fine' that the servile defendants, like the 
freemen of the territory, had a family or tribal organiza- 



40 ANCIENT IRISH TENANTRY. 

tion; and indeed all fragments of a society like that of 
ancient Ireland take more or less the shape of the pre- 
vailing model. The position of the classes indicated in 
Doomsday and other ancient English records as Cotarii 
and Bordarii was probably very similar to that of Sen- 
cleithes and Bothacks; and in both cases it has been sus- 
pected that these servile orders had an origin distinct 
from that of the dominant race, and belonged to the 
older or aboriginal inhabitants of the country. Families 
or sub-tribes formed out of them were probably hewers 
of wood and drawers of water to the ruling tribe or its 
subdivisions. Others were certainly in a condition of 
special servitude to the chief or dependence on him; and 
these last were either engaged in cultivating his immedi- 
ate domain-land and herding his cattle, or were planted 
by him in separate settlements on the waste lands of the 
tribe. The rent or service which they paid to him for 
the use of this land was apparently determinable solely 
by the pleasure of the chief." 

It was these fugitives or expelled members of tribes, 
who were taken under the protection of the several chiefs, 
who proved a distinct and servile class, who were never 
admitted to membership among the freemen of the race 
who were the tenants at will in ante-Anglo-Norman 
days. The freemen were all land occupants, holding the 
land they cultivated as proprietors, with the right to sell 
or give it away. This was the . land tenure of Ireland 
which was swept away by the wholesale confiscations of 
all the land in Ireland by the conquering nation, and by 
the establishment in Ireland of the feudal system, vest- 
ing the land in the few, and reducing the many to the 
condition of tenants. The ancient laws of Ireland and 
the proprietorship of the land by the people perished 
with the election of Henry VIII as king of Ireland in 
1542. 

THE ENGLISH OF THE PALE. 

Hitherto the English dominions in that country, em- 
braced only a small strip on the eastern coast, called the 
" Pale," and those whose proprietary rights were ac- 



POLITICAL AUTHORITY OF THE POPE REJECTED. 41 

knowledged by the English Viceroy, were hated by the 
Irish, to whom they were knowa as the " English of the 
Pale." Their title to possession was disputed; they were 
regarded as enemies, and in many a raid and foray, their 
cattle, arms and household goods were seized on, and 
carried off as " spoils of war." It would seem, indeed, 
as if the Irish regarded the English as intruders, and as 
such, should be punished in any way which presented 
itself. Accordingly, we find the English Viceroy re- 
porting that the Pale was " harried " by O 'Bryrne, of 
Wicklow, the O'Toole, the O'More and other chieftains 
whose location gave them the opportunity, and whose 
hatred of the English spurred them to action. 

THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 

Such was the footing of the English in Ireland at the 
commencement of Henry's reign. When he determined 
on the politico-religious change called the Reformation, 
he found as ready assent to the change among the Anglo- 
Irish colonists as among the most servile of the English 
clergy, nobility and people. They conformed, they 
wished to share in the spoils with an eagerness peculiarly 
English. Conscience or religious conviction they had 
none. The native princes and the Norman-Irish nobles 
in most instances, and the people of Ireland to a man re- 
fused to believe in the Spiritual Supremacy of Henry, or 
to abandon their faith. Those of the Irish chieftains who 
were base enough to conform were repudiated by their 
clansmen; and other chieftains, though from the same 
family, set up in their places. Some indeed conformed 
only in seeming, and practiced the old faith in their own 
castles. 

The Irish to be sure had no very powerful reasons to 
be enamored of the political authority of the Pope's. 
It had heretofore been always on the side of the English. 
Papal bulls, and rescripts, and letters were always forth- 
coming to be used by the English in repressing the tur- 
bulent, refractory and English-hating Irish. With a 
discrimination which reflected great credit on them, then, 
as in O'Connell's time, and since, the Irish while admit- 



42 CHIEFS DEPOSED FOR ACCEPTING ENGLISH TITLES. 

ting the supremacy of the Pope in matters religious, 
utterly refused to accept their political doctrines, or 
abide'by their political teachings. In fact the Irish were 
always more Catholic than " Papist." 

Though so much occupied between his wives, mis- 
tresses, the plundering of monasteries and convents, and 
the intrigues of his Court, Henry found time to deal with 
Irish affairs, and in 1541 through his agent, Saint Leger, 
called a 

MEETING OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT. 

This body met on the 12th of June, of that year. Many of 
the Irish princes attended, as did nearly all of the Anglo- 
Norman lords. O'Donnell and O'Neill, the Ulster princes, • 
refused to attend at first, but were soon induced to do so 
through the flattery and favor of Henry. In the first ses- 
sion of this body the crown of Ireland was voted to Henry. 
To reward the chiefs, the king soon after conferred on 
them English titles ; O'Donnell became Earl of 
Tyrconnell; O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone; O'Brien, Earl of 
Thomond; Mc William, Earl of Clanrickarde. The titles 
were bestowed by Henry in person at Greenwich, whither 
the chieftains had repaired. 

THE CLANS WOULD HAVE NO ENGLISH EARLS FOR CHIEFS. 

But during their absence the clansmen, from whom 
they derived their representative characters, were not 
idle. No sooner had they discovered the treachery 
of the chiefs in bestowing the crown of Ireland on Henry 
and in repudiating Irish titles, than they began to take 
the most effective means of punishing them by deposing 
them and electing successors, and thus we find mentioned 
in the history of this and succeeding periods, an 
Irish O 'Brien, and a King's or Queen's O'Brien; an Irish 
O'Neill and a King's or Queen's O'Neill. Those who 
were not faithful to the clansmen were denounced as 
persons " who sold their country, clan and church for 
gold." The deposed chief tried in many instances to 
assert his claims, and was backed up by some of his 
personal adherents, and thus was added another element 
of strife. No doubt this was very pleasing to the 



SHANE O'NEILL KIDS ULSTER OF THE ENGLISH- 43 

English. Their policy thereafter was one of " divide and 
conquer;" one too, which was much more successful than 
any which they had yet adopted. In some instances the 
Irish chiefs recanted, and were restored to their former 
authority; but alas! the poison of dissension only worked 
too well. 

The accession of Mary to the throne little affected the 
policy of England towards Ireland. Mary, no doubt, 
evinced much sympathy for Irishmen who were impris- 
oned during the reign of her father and brother, because 
of adhering- to the ancient faith; but the Saxon hate of 
Celtic independence was as strong in Mary as it is in the 
English Catholics of the present day, and she was as de- 
termined in pushing the conquest of Ireland as was 
Henry VIII. 

Elizabeth was still more vigorous and far more unscru- 
pulous in carrying out the same policy. But the 
Irish chiefs were more determined to resist. Shane 
O'Neill (John the Proud) was up in Ulster. His 
father had taken an English title; the clansmen thereon 
elected John, who had no sooner taken on himself the 
leadership than he set about ridding Ulster of the En- 
glish, and in this he was completely successful. He de- 
feated all the armies that Elizabeth could send against 
him, and soon there was not a vestige of Englisn rule 
in his province. He even ravaged and " harried " the 
Pale, defeating' the English Commander-in-Chief, who 
was sent against him. Sussex, the Lord-Lieutenant, 
with the approval of Elizabeth, tried to procure his death 
by assassination, but failed. Unfortunately, Shane quar- 
relled with the O'Donnells, and was by them defeated in 
a pitched battle. Fleeing from the field, he fell into the 
hands of some Scotchmen, by whom he was treacherously 
murdered. The O'Neill's country fell into the hands 
of the English. Young Hugh O'Neill was taken to Lon- 
don, that he might be educated in English ways, and 
arts, and diplomacy. It was thought, no doubt, that he 
would become a thorough West-Briton; and would in 
turn educate his clansmen to learn and love the English 
ways, and the English religion. Young Hugh seems 



44 * THE NORTHERN CONFEDERACY. 

to have acted his part very well; was a great favorite 
at the English court; fought in the Queen's army, even 
against the Irish chiefs; and generally approved himself a 
most loyal young man, in whom her Majesty had the fullest 
confidence. On his return to Ireland, he seems to have 
behaved as an ordinary English nobleman, and his loyalty 
was not questioned. The courtiers of Dublin, however, 
soon began to suspect his loyalty. It was reported that 
he busied himself in healing up the feuds between the 
Ulster chiefs; that he treated the Spaniards who escaped 
from the wreck of the Armada, with distinguished con- 
sideration; he was even charged with entertaining 
"popish" priests and assisting at popish services: add to 
this the fact that he was carefully drilling his men. Hear 
John Mitchel, with what savage satisfaction he tells of 
these proceedings: " It is much feared that he changes 
the men so soon as they thoroughly learn the use of arms, 
replacing them by others, all his own clansmen, whom 
he diligently drills and reviews for some unknown ser- 
vice. And the lead he imports; lead enough to sheet 
Glenshane, or clothe the sides of Caernocher. And, in- 
deed, rumor does reach the deputy in Dublin that there 
goes on at Dangaimon, an incredible casting of bullets, 

THE RISING IN THE NORTH. 

" If the two potent chiefs of the north should forget 
their ancient feud and unite for the cause of Ireland, 
then, indeed, not only this settlement of the Uister 
' counties' must be adjourned — one knows not how long — 
but the Pale itself or the Castle of Dublin might hardly 
protect Her Majesty's officers." The two 'potent 
princes' of Ulster did finally unite, although Elizabeth's 
deputy tried hard to prevent the union. Young Hugh 
Roe O'Donnell was abducted and confined in Dublin 
castle, but managed to escape, though not till a first at- 
tempt had failed. On his way homeward to Donegal he 
was treated with the greatest hospitality by O'Neill, and 
at Dungannon, doubtless, were the plans formed which 
gave so much trouble to Elizabeth. O'Neill was very 
cool and diplomatic, but young O'Donnell was impetu- 



o'neill ukfuels his royal standard. *45 

ous and impatient. Some English troops were stationed 
in a Donegal monastery; this was more than O'Donnell 
flesh and blood could bear; they were driven out by Red 
Hugh. Some regiments of Saxon soldiery occupied the 
garrisons of Sligo and Mayo; O'Donnell swooped down 
on them and soon five counties in Ulster and Connaug-ht 
were relieved of the presence of the hateful Sassenach. 
This impetuosity on the part of the chief of Tyrconnell 
precipited matters. O'Neill had to declare himself before 
he was quite ready. He expected "wine" from the 
royal " Pope," and " Spanish ale" that would give him 
hope — ''health and strength and hope," as Mangan has 
it; but " it was clear that, let King Philip send his prom- 
ised aid, or send it not, open and vigorous resistance must 
be made to the further progress of a foreign power." 
O'Neill was summoned to Dublin to answer to charges 
against his loyalty. Nothing daunted he appeared, but 
on being informed of a plot to seize him he beat a hasty 
retreat. The time for action had arrived at last. All 
pretense of loyalty was thrown off; a powerful confed- 
eracy had been formed among the northern chiefs. "Dun- 
gannon," says Mitchell, " with stern joy beheld un- 
furled the royal standard of O'Neill, displaying, as it 
floated proudly on the breeze that terrible lied Right 
Hand upon its snowy white folds, waving defiance to the 
Saxon queen." O'Neill " stormed Portmore and drove 
away its garrison," razed its fortifications, then advanced 
into O'Reilly's country (Cavan) driving the Saxon garri- 
sons before him, united with Maguire and MacMahon 
and laid siege to Monaghan. 

Meanwhile O'Donnell had made a raid into Connaught, 
shutting up the English Garrison within the walled towns, 
ravaged the lands of the Saxon settlers, and sending the 
spoils to Tyrconnell. O'Farrel who was a loyal subject 
occupying what is now the county Longford, was next 
attacked, and treated to a little of O'Donnell's vengeance. 
The English were wholly unprepared for this kind of 
work, and not being so well prepared as they would wish, 
began to treat with the Ulster princes. O'Neill saw 
through the device. It was to gain time, and demanded 



46 BATTLE OF CLONTIBEET. 

concessions which he knew full well could not be granted' 
One of the claims must have struck Bagenal, the English 
general, as a piece of most consummate impudence. 
Bagenal's sister had eloped with O'Neill, and now that 
doughty chieftain demanded as one of the conditions of 
peace, a thousand pounds of silver " as a marriage por- 
tion with the lady whom he had raised to the dignity of 
an CPN'eilVs bride." The English would grant much on 
condition that the Northern princes should repent them 
of their rebellion. " The rebels " says Moryson, " grew 
insolent." They had no idea of begging pardon for doing 
what they conceived was a patriotic and pious duty. 

Early in June, 1595, Bagenal and Norreys, at the head 
of the English army, marched from Dundalk to relieve 
Monaghan, which had fallen into the hands of the Eng- 
lish, and which was now being besieged by O'Neill. 
The two armies met at Clontibret, and after a most de- 
termined and obstinate battle, "the banner of St. George 
went down before the furious charge " of O'Neill. " The 
English," says Mitchell, "fled headlong over the stream, 
leaving the field covered with their dead." . . "Nor- 
reys hastily retreated southwards, and Monaghan was 
yielded to the Irish." Segrave, the bravest of the English 
officers, was slain in single combat with O'Neill, and a 
large amount of fire-arms and munitions of war fell into 
the Hands of the Irish. At the close of 1595 O'Neill's 
Confederacy ruled supreme over Connaught and Ulster. 
During the next two years the English were still further 
pressed, a portion of the Pale fell into the hands of the 
Irish; Essex was stripped of his plumes at Tyrell's Pass. 
— called for that reason the " Pass of Plumes," — and was 
recalled to England in disgrace. In 1598 the English 
fitted out a formidable army to beard the lion of Ulster 
in his den, and marched to the relief of Armagh. The 
command of this fine army was entrusted to Bagenal, the 
mortal enemy of O'Neill. 

" His veteran troops in the foreign wars tried, 
Their features how bronzed, and how haughty their prid,. 
Stepped steadily on." 

O'Neill having called O'Donnell and the principal 



BATTLE OF BEAL-AN-ATHA-BUIE. 47 

northern chiefs to his aid, advanced to meet them at 
I>eal-an-atha-buie, now called the Blackwater, " the 
glory of Ulster," Thomas Davis called it. Mitchel de- 
scribes the battle thus: " Bagenal, at the head of his first 
division, aided by a body of cavalry, charged the Irish 
light armed troops up to the very entrenchments, in front 
of which O'Neill's foresight had prepared some pits, cov- 
ered over with wattles and grass, and many of the Eng- 
lish cavalry, rushing impetuously forward, rolled head- 
long, both men and horses, into these trenches and per- 
ished. Still the Marshal's chosen troops, with loud 
cheers and shouts of fc St. George for Merry England' 
resolutely attacked the entrenchments, battered them 
with cannon, and in one place succeeded, though with 
heavy loss, in forcing back their defenders. Then the first 
main body of O'Neill's troops was brought into action, and 
with bagpipes sounding a charge, they fell on the Eng- 
lish, shouting their fierce battle-cries, Z/amh-dearg, and 
O'Donnell, Aboo! O'Neill, himself at the head of a body 
of horse, pricked forward to seek out Bagenal, but they 
never met; the Marshal was shot through the brain by 
some unknown marksman;" "his blood manured the 
reeking sod." The division he led was utterly routed, 
and with it the entire army. 

" Land of Owen Aboo! and the Irish rushed on, 
The foe fired but one volley — their gunners are gone. 
Before the bare bosoms the steel-coats have fled, 
Or, despite casque or corslet, lie dying or dead." 

Thirty-four standards, all the English artillery, and 
twelve thousand pieces of gold were taken by O'Neill's 
army. Nearly three thousand English soldiers were left 
dead on the field, and the pride of England was humbled. 
Moryson, the English chronicler, says the "general voyce 
was of Tyrone after the defeat of Blackwater, as of Han- 
nibal among the Romans after the defeat of Cannge." It 
is needless to say what the opinion of Ireland was. 

"Glory fadeth, but this triumph was no barren mundane glory; 

Rays of healing it shall scatter on the eyes that read our story. 
#*** * # # * % 

Whenso'er Erin triumphs, its dawn it shall renew, 
Then O'Neill shall be remembered and O'Donnell's chief Red 
Hucrh." 



48 MUNSTER JOINS THE CONFEDERACY. 

The thrill of victory wakened the Munster chiefs to 
their duty. This province was ruled by Anglo-Norman 
lords or Irish chiefs, who were powerless or unwilling to 
protest against English dominion. O 'Neill despatched 
Richard Tyrell and Owen O'Moore to rouse the southern 
chiefs. They were received with glad welcome. The 
English adventurers, who occupied the lands of. the 
province after the collapse of the Geraldine confederacy 
fled for their lives, the principal fortresses, except Cork 
and Killmallock, fell into the hands of the Irish, and Mun- 
ster was soon as free as Ulster and Conn aught. "No 
English force was able to keep the field through- 
out all Ireland." In 1599 O 'Niell was recognized as 
chief ruler, and all his commands loyally obeyed. 
But Elizabeth was not the monarch to quit her deadly 
grip upon Ireland. England now put forth all her full 
strength to crush the Irish nation. Essex was dis- 
patched with an army of twenty thousand men to put 
down the " rebellion," but never came to battle in the 
open field with O'Neill. His army was decimated in guer- 
illa warfare, and he was recalled and disgraced. Mount- 
joy was now appointed deputy, and Carew lord president 
of Munster, and instead of meeting O'Neill with the 
weapon of the soldier, " they tried snares, deceit, treach- 
ery, gold, flattery, promises, temptation, and seduction in 
every shape." God pity Ireland; she has nursed of all 
her foes — the fiercest, worst. The methods of Mount joy 
and Carew succeeded. O'Connor in the South, and Art 
Neill and Niall Garv O'Donnell in the north, defected 
to the English. Dissensions arose in all portions. A 
Queen's McCarthy was set up against the Irish McCarthy 
in Muskerry; the O'Sullivan Beare had to contend against 
O'Sullivan Moore, in Kerry. 

The Spanish expedition sent out under the command 
of the vain, pompous and cowardly Don Juan D'Aquilla., 
instead of landing in Ulster where it could meet little 
resistance, and where it would be most useful, landed at 
Kinsale in the south, where the only chiefs who remained 
faithful to the Irish cause were O'Sullivan Beare, O'Con- 
nor Kerry and O'Driscoll. D'Aquilla in a letter to O'Neill 



DISASTROUS BATTLE AT KINSALE. 49 

threatened to treat with Carew unless further aid was 
given to his expedition. 

The Ulster Chief, much against his will, marched south 
with O'Donnell, and uniting with O'Sullivan and O'Dris- 
coll, laid siege to Kinsale, which he proposed to reduce 
by starvation. D'Aquilla became impatient, and de- 
manded an assault on the English lines. O'Neill had to 
yield much against his will, and the Irish forces were de- 
feated at the disastrous battle of Kinsale. The power 
of the confederacy was broken in the South. O'Sullivan, 
for a while defended his Castle at Dunboy, but finally 
retreated under the face of the most discouraging obstacles 
northward; his castle was blown up by the warder, 
Geoghegan, rather than it should fall into the hands of the 
English, " and the halls where mirth and minstrelsy than 
Beara's winds were louder" was reduced to a ruin. 
Fraud had done its work where force had failed. O'Neill 
and O'Donnell continued to fight bravely against all 
odds. The Tudors, wile succeeded, as the Stuarts and 
the Brunswickers have since. The Queen's O'Riellys, 
O'Neills, O'Sullivans and O'Donnells, have had their imi- 
tators in our own days in the Keoghs, Monsells and 
Sadliers, of the " Pope's Brass band," the Corydons, the 
Masseys and the Nagles of Fenian times; and the Deases, 
Dygbys, Morrises, Murphys and McCarthys, of the Home 
Rule movement. The submission of the chiefs and sub- 
sequent events, are told on another page. 

ENGLISH DOMINION CONFINED TO THE PALE FOR FOUR 
HUNDRED YEARS. 

Notwithstanding the pretended conquest of Ireland by 
the Anglo-Normans in the reign of Henry II, the fact is 
indisputable that the English dominion was virtually con^ 
fined to the limits of " The Pale " for four hundred years 
thereafter. This district comprised the counties of Dub- 
lin, Kildare, Meath and Uriel, with the cities of Water- 
ford, Cork and Limerick, and the lands immediately 
surrounding them. Over the other parts of +he island, 
which were without the Pale, neither Henry nor any 
of his successors, until the reign of James I, after the 
4 



50 SUBMISSION OF THE NOETHEEN CHIEFS. 

submission of the northern chieftains^ as previously re- 
lated, either had or even claimed to have any sovereignty 
beyond the formal homage of some of the native chief- 
tains, an empty title and an inconsiderable, irregularly 
paid tribute. Henry made the most lavish promises of 
protection, and even aggrandizement to those chieftains 
who had basely betrayed their country by joining Mc- 
Murrough in inviting the "proud invader" into Ireland. 
" In lieu," says Plowden, " of his promises of future 
power to the chieftains, he dispossessed them of their 
honors and territories, and granted them with the 
arbitrary prodigality of a conquering despot to his Nor- 
man adventurers, whom he raised at the same time to the 
rank of feudatory princes." 

POLICY OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT FOUNDED IN 
HATRED TO THE IRISH. 

It has ever been the policy of the English Government, 
instead of endeavoring to win the fealty and affection of 
the Irish by equal and just laws, to foment divisions and 
perpetual dissensions, animosity and hatred between the 
two peoples. 

This is as true during the four hundred years that 
England remained Catholic as it continued to be after the 
Reformation, when religious persecution gave added 
venom to national hatred. "Hence it is," says Sir John 
Davies, " that in all the parliament rolls which are extant 
from the 40th year of Edward III, when the statutes of 
Kilkenny were enacted, to the reign of King Henry VIII; 
we find the degenerate and disobedient English called reb- 
els, but the Irish who were not in the king's peace, are 
called enemies. All the statutes passed by the parliament 
of the Pale, speak of English rebels and Irish enemies, 
as if the Irish had never been in the condition of sub- 
jects, but always out of the protection of the laws, and 
were indeed in a worse case than aliens of any foreign 
realm that was in enmity with the crown of England. 
For by divers heavy penal laws the English were forbid- 
den to marry, to foster, to make gossipes with the Irish ; 
or to have any trade or commerce in their markets and 



TESTIMONY OF THE CRUEL POLICY OF ENGLAND. 51 

fairs. Nay, there was a law made no longer since than 
the 28th of Henry VIII, that the English should not 
marry with any person of Irish blood, though he had 
gotten a charter of denization, unless he had done both 
homage and fealty to the King in the Chancery, and were 
also bounden by recognizance in sureties to continue a 
loyal subject. Whereby it is manifest that such as had 
the government of Ireland under the crown of England 
did intend to make a perpetual separation of enmity be- 
tween the English and the Irish." 

The reflections of Sir John Davies, himself an En- 
glishman, a trusted servant of the crown, and a lawyer 
well versed in the laws and constitution of England, may 
well be considered of more weight in depicting the venal 
and cruel policy of the English government in Ireland 
than the testimony of any modern writer. " This, then, 
I note," continues Sir John Davies, " as a great defect 
in the civil policy of this kingdom, in that, for the space 
of 350 years, at least, after the conquest first attempted, 
the English lawes were not communicated to the Irish, 
nor the benefit and protection thereof allowed unto them. 
For as long as they were out of the protection of the law, 
so as every Englishman might oppresse, spoyle and kill 
them without controulment, how was it possible they 
should bee other than outlawes and enemies to the 
Crowne of England? If the King would not admit them 
to the condition of subjects, how could they learn to ac- 
knowledge and obey him as their Sovereign? When they 
might not converse or commerce with any civill men, nor 
enter into anie towne or bitty without perill of their lives, 
whither should they flie but into the woods and moun- 
tains, and there live in a wild and barbarous manner? 
If the English magistrates would not rule them by the 
lawe, which doth punish treason and murder and theft by 
death, but leave them to be ruled by their own lords and 
lawes, why should they not embrace their own Brehon 
law, which punisheth no offence but with a fine or erich? 
If the Irish bee not permitted to purchase estates of free- 
hold or inheritance, which might descend to their chil- 
dren according to the course of our common lawe, must 



52 NOTHING- WAS GRANTED TO THE NATIVES. 

they not continue their old custom of tanistries, which 
makes all their possessions uncertaine and brings con- 
fusion, barbarism and incivillitie? In a word, if the En- 
glish woulde neither in peace govern them by lawe, nor 
could in warre roote them out by the sworde, must they 
not needes bee prickes in their eyes, and thornes in their 
hides till the worlde's end." 

Though the English had possession of only one-third 
of the island, they cantonized the whole country amongst 
ten English families, and called themselves owners and 
lords of the soil of the whole country. Nothing was 
left to be granted or enjoyed by the natives; nor can 
there be found for the space of 350 years after Henry's 
invasion a single record of a grant of any land to an 
Irishman of any degree, except a grant from the Crown 
to the King of Thomond of his own land, during the 
minority of Henry III, and the grant or treaty with Ro- 
derick O'Connor, the King of Connaught, by Henry II. 

THESE ENGLISH GRANTEES BECAME A NEW SET OF 
PETTY SOVEREIGNS, 

to the irreparable damage of the country, and Sir John 
Davies assures us that our great English lords could not 
endure that any Kings should reign in Ireland but them- 
selves ; nay, they could hardly endure that the Crown 
of England itself should exercise any jurisdiction over 
them. They exercised more arbitrary jurisdiction and 
authority in their territories than any English monarch 
did over the Kingdom. No wonder, then, that this new 
race of English Kings in Ireland should, as Sir John 
Davies further observes, oppose and resist every attempt 
of the English government to admit the Irish into a full 
participation of the laws and constitution. For by these 
grants and confiscations of whole provinces and several 
kingdoms, these few Anglo-Norman lords assumed to be 
the proprietors of all the lands, so that there was no 
possibility of settling the natives in any of their posses- 
sions, and consequently the conquest of the whole 
country became an utter impossibility, otherwise than by 
the complete extirpation of the whole native race, which 



THE OPPRESSION OF THE LAND ROBBERS. 53 

they were in fact unable, and probably unwilling, to ac- 
complish. The Irish who inhabited the lands that were sub- 
dued to the foreign yoke, were in the condition of slaves 
and villeins, and thereby were rendered more valuable to 
their conquerors than if they had been allowed to become 
free subjects to the Crown of England ; and as these 
oppressive and rapacious land-robbers nattered them- 
selves with the pleasing prospect of realizing their sev- 
eral grants to their full nominal extent, they eagerly 
sought to extend their system of vassalage and slavery, 
which could not be accomplished if the Irish outside the 
Pale were permitted to receive the King's protection and 
become liege men and free subjects. t Thus, early in 
the history of English government in Ireland, were the 
peace, welfare and prosperity of the Irish people sacri- 
ficed to the inordinate greed and corrupt selfishness of 
some few men in power. 

The same author, "than whom," says Plowden, "no man 
ever more studied the reciprocal interests of England and 
Ireland, tells us plainly, that this handful of monopolizers of 
the whole power and profit of the nation opposed its union 
with England, because that would have abridged and cut 
off a great part of that greatness which they had prom- 
ised unto themselves; they persuaded the King of Eng- 
land, that it was unfit to communicate the lawes of Eng- 
land wi:h them; that it was the best policie to hold them 
as aliens and enemies, and to prosecute them with a con- 
tinual warre. Hereby they obtained another royal pre- 
rogative and power, which was to make warre and peace 
at their pleasure in every part of the Kingdome; which 
gave them an absolute command over the bodies, lands 
and goods of the English subjects heere. The truth is, 
that those great English lords did, to the uttermost of 
their power, crosse and withstand the enfranchisement 
of the Irish, for the causes before expressed, wherein I 
must still cleare and acquit the crown and state of Eng- 
land of negligence or ill policy." 

Not only the general state policy of England was mis- 
directed and abused by the servants of the crown in Ire- 
land, in order to increase and perpetuate disunion and 



54: THE IRISH NOT SUBJECTS, BUT "ENEMIES." 

hatred between the two nations, but the very sources of 
justice and legislation were poisoned and corrupted to 
the same intent. We have the testimony of records of un- 
doubted authority: "That the Irish generally were held 
and reputed aliens, or rather enemies, to the crown of 
England, inasmuch as that they were not only disabled to 
bring anie actions, but they were so far out of the protec- 
tion of the lawe as it was often 

ADJUDGED NO EELQNY TO KILL A MERE IRISHMAN 

in the time of peace. By the 4th Chap, of the Statutes, 
made at Trim, 25th Henry VI (A. D. 1447), it was en- 
acted, that if any were found with their upper lips 
unshaven for the space of a fortnight, (it was the Irish 
fashion to wear the beard on the upper lip) it should be 
lawful for any man to take them and their goods as Irish 
enemies and ransom them. Another very singular stat- 
ute was passed, to commit the punishment of offenders to 
every private liegeman of the King, without any reference 
to trial by judge or jury, (28th Henry VI, c. 11, A. 
D. 1450.) Rewards were put upon the heads of the Irish, 
at ibhe mere private surmise, suspicion, or personal resent- 
ment of any Englishman, for it was enacted that it shall 
be lawful for every liegeman of the King — all manner of 
notorious and known thieves, and thieves found robbing 1 , 
etc., to kill and take them without impeachment, arraing- 
ment or grievance to him — to be done by our lord the 
King, his justices, officers or any of his ministers, for any 
such manslaughter or taking; and that every man shall 
be rewarded for such killing or taking by one penny of 
every plough, and one farthing of every cottage, within 
the barony where the manslaughter was done. This in- 
human encouragement to murder was further increased 
by larger rewards given to those who should execute 
summary justice by their own fallible or corrupt judg- 
ments upon persons going to rob and steal, or coming 
from robbing and stealing ; for (by 50th Edwd. IV, c. 21 
A. D. 1465) it was enacted, that it should be lawful to all 
manner of men that found any thieves robbing by day or 
by night, or going or coming to rob or steal, in or out, 



REWARD FOR CUTTING OFF HEADS. 55 

going or coming, having no faithful man of good name in 
their company in English apparel, upon any of the liege 
people of the King, to take and kill those and cut off 
their heads without any impeachment of our sovereign 
lord the King, his heirs, officers or ministers, or of any 
others; and of any heads so cut off in the county of 
Meath, that the cutter of the said head, and his ayders 
there to him, cause the said head so cut off in the county 
of Meath, to be brought to the portreeve of the town of 
Trim, and the portreeve to put it upon a stake or spear 
upon the castle of Trim, and that the said portreeve, of 
Trim, should give him his writing under the seal of the 
said town, testifying the bringing of the said head to 
him. And that it should be lawful for the bringer of 
the said head and his ayders to the same, to distrein and 
levy with their own hands of every man having one 
plough land in the barony where the thief was so taken, 
two-pence; half a plough land, one penny; and every 
man having a house and goods to the value of forty 
shillings, one penny; and of every other cottier having 
house and smoak, one halfpenny. And if the portreeve 
should refuse such certificate, he was to forfeit £10 
recoverable by action. 

Although the printed Statutes of Ireland go not to so 
early a date, yet Sir John Davies quotes 

THE FAMOUS STATUTES OF KILKENNY, 

which are preserved in the Castle at Dublin; they were 
passed in the 40th year of King Edwd. Ill (A. D. 1366), 
and although " they were chiefly intended," says Plow- 
den, "to correct the degeneracy of the English, yet had 
they the strongest tendency to aggravate the rancorous 
animosity of the two nations." " In the 40th year of his 
reign," says Davies, " King Edward held that famous 
Parliament at Kilkenny, wherein many notable lawes 
were enacted, which doo showe and lay open how much 
the English colonies were corrupted at that time, and doo 
infallibly prove that which is laide downe befoer that 
they were wholly degenerate and fain away from their 
obedience. For, first it appeareth by the preamble of 



56 THE OPPRESSIONS OF COIN AND LI VERY. 

those lawes, that the English of this realm, before the 
coming of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, were at that time 
become meare Irish in their language, names, apparell, 
and all their manner of living, and had rejected the En- 
glish lawes and submitted themselves to the Irish, with 
whom they had made marriages and alliances, which 
tended to the utter ruine and destruction of the common- 
wealth. Therefore, alliance by marriage, nurture of 
infants, and gossipred with the Irish are by this statute 
made high treason. Again, if anie man of English race 
should use an Irish name, Irish language, or Irish ap- 
parell, or any other guise or fashion of the Irish, if he had 
lands or tenements, the same should be seized, till he had 
given security to the chancery, to conform himself in all 
points to the English manner of living. And if he had 
no lands, his bodie was to be taken and imprisoned, till 
he found surety as aforesaid." And again the same 
author in his Disc. p. 174, etc., says : " But the most 
wicked and mischievous custome of all others was that of 
Coygne and Livery, often before mentioned, which con- 
sisted in taking of mans-meate, horse meate, and money 
of all the inhabitants of the country at the will and pleas- 
ure of the soldier, who as the phrase of the Scripture is, 
did eate up the people as it were bread, for he had no 
other entertainment. This extortion was originally Irish, 
for they used to lay bonaght, (that is, freequarters) upon 
their people, and never gave their soldiers any other pay. 
But when the English had learned it, they used it with 
more insolencey and made it more intolerable, for this 
oppression was not temporary, or limited either to place 
or time, but because there, was everywhere a continuall 
warre either offensive or defensive, and every lord of a 
countrie, and every marcher made warre and peace at his 
pleasure, it became universal and perpetuall; and was 
indeede the most heavy oppression that ever was used in 
anie Christian or Heathen Kingdom, and therefore vox 
oppresorum, this crying sinne did drawe down as 
great or greater plagues upon Ireland than the oppres- 
sion of the Israelites did draw upon the land of Egypt. 
For the plagues of Egypt, though they were grievous, 



OPPRESSION THE CAUSE OF IDLENESS. 57 

were of a short continuance; but these plagues of Ireland 
lasted 400 years together. This extortion of coygne and 
livery did produce two notorious effects. First, it made 
the land waste; next, it made the people idle. For when 
the husbandman had laboured all the yeare, the soldiers 
did in one night consume the fruites of all his labour, 
longique perit labor irritus anne. Had he reason then 
to manure the land for the next year? * * * * 

HEREUPON, OF NECESSITY, CAME DEPOPULATION, 

banishment and extirpation of the better class of sub- 
jects, and such as remained became idle and lookers-on, 
expecting the event of those miserable and evil times, so 
as this extreme extortion and oppression had been the 
true cause of idleness in this Irish nation ; and that 
rather the vulvar sort have chosen to be beo*<rars in for- 
raign countries, than to manure their own fruitful soil at 
home. Lastly, this oppression did, of force and neces- 
sity, make the Irish a crafty people ; for such as are op- 
pressed and live in slavery, are ever put to their shifts, 
ingenium mala semper movent, and it is said in an 
ancient discourse of the decay of Ireland, that though 
' ( this custom of Coygne and Livery) 1 were first in- 
vented in Hell, yet if it had been used and practiced 
there, as it hath been in Ireland, it had long since 
destroyed the very kingdom of Belzebub." 

The limited scope of this work will not afford space in 
which to tell the story of the reigns of the sixteen mon- 
archs who rose in England from the invasion of Ireland 
by Henry II, to the reformation under Henry VIII. 
Suffice it to sum it all up in a sentence. It was an 
uninterrupted series of oppression by the rulers, and 
continual discord, warfare and wretchedness of the peo- 
ple. 

Henry VIII was the first monarch who assumed the 
title of King of Ireland; his predecessors had been con- 
tented with the style and title of Lord of Ireland con- 
ferred upon Henry II by Pope Adrian IV. 'The collation 
of the royal dignity by the Irish nation alone, is a proof 
and a full recognition by England, of the absolute sov- 



58 CIVILIZATION BY ROBBERY. 

ereignty and independence of the Irish nation. (Plowden, 
Vol. 1, p. 54). 

" From the first settlement of the English in Ire- 
land, the acquisition of estates at the expense of the 
natives seemed to be their only object. Hence, the 
people who possessed the lands were never viewed in 
the light of subjects to the crown, but as enemies, to be 
exterminated by the new lords of the soil, or 

NATIVES, TO BE CIVILIZED BY ROBBERY AND OUTLAWRY. 

Cox presents us with the germ of this systematic plun- 
der. " He says that so far back as the year 1559 it was 
one of the instructions given to the Earl of Sussex, when 
he came over as Lord Deputy, to people Ulster with Eng- 
lish. But Sussex was sufficiently engaged in Leinster, 
where he had reduced Leix and Offaly into shire land by 
the names of Kings and Queens counties, and when he 
was spreading civilization by the venal agencies of fire 
and sword, and he had no time to fulfil these commands 
of the English court. An offer was however made ten 
years later by Sir Thomas Gerrard, of Lancashire, for 
the planting of the Glynnes and Clandeboy. His pro- 
posal is dated March 15, 1569; but no steps were at that 
time taken on this proposition. 

EFFECTS OF THE INVASION ON THE CHARACTER OF THE 

PEOPLE. 

Before entering upon the means adopted by successive 
sovereigns of England, and particularly their local depu- 
ties in Ireland, it may be well for the general reader 
carefully to digest the opinion of the amiable and con- 
servative historian, Plowden, on this subject. In his 
Historical Review of the State of Ireland, Vol. 1, p. 2 
he, philosophically considering the subject of the above 
heading, submits the following remarks: "Although the 
nature of man be homogeneous, yet different portions of 
the human race differ from each other by properties, 
qualities, and habits, so strongly distinctive as nearly to 
approximate to a difference of species. Many are the 
gradations and shades of these distinctions. True it is, 



EFFECTS OF POLITICAL SYSTEMS ON MANKIND. 59 

different political systems produce powerful effects upon 
mankind;, they go great lengths, but not the whole way 
towards changing the innate genius, spirit and character 
of a nation. To a close and impartial observer, the origi- 
nal national character will manifest itself, up to the remot- 
est antiquity, under the strongest influence of improve- 
ment or debasement. Without entering into a philosoph- 
ical disquisition of the immediate causes of a variety in 
national characters, we may be allowed to attribute much 
to the air and soil of particular countries, although at dis- 
tant periods of time, many may be the instances of changes, 
suspensions, and apparent extinctions, of the most marked 
characters in the same nations. Faintly, if at all, can we 
trace a single line of the old Grecian Punic or Roman 
characters, through modern Turkey, on the coasts of 
Barbary, or in the territorial possessions of the Court of 
Rome. But who shall assert that a melioration of the 
political systems of government in those countries would 
not vivify the smothered embers, and rouse into a flame 
that very spirit, which was once the dread of the day, and 
has since been the astonishment of posterity? Yet Ireland 
undoubtedly stands prominently conspicuous amongst 
the nations of the universe, a solitary instance, in which 
neither the destructive hand of time, nor the devastating 
arm of oppression, nor the widest variety of changes in the 
political system of government, could alter or subdue, 
much less wholly extinguish, the national genius, spirit 
and character of its inhabitants." 

EARLY CONFISCATIONS OF THE SOIL. 

Available means are not at hand for computing the 
amount of confiscations of land during this period. In sub- 
sequent years a better record has been kept and the read- 
er will find some interesting facts and figures upon this 
subject in succeeding pages. 

Plowden, in his Historical Review of the State of Ire- 
land, Vol. 1, pages 164—5, quotes the Earl of Clare as fol- 
lows : 

"After the expulsion of James from the throne of Eng- 
land, the old inhabitants made a final effort for the re- 



60 CONFISCATIONS FKOM JAMES I TO 1688. 

covery of their ancient power, in which they were once 
more defeated by an English army, and the slender relics 
of Irish possessions became the subject of fresh confisca- 
tion. From the report made by the commissioners ap- 
pointed by the Parliament of England in 1688, it appears 
that the Irish subjects outlawed for the rebellion of 1698, f 
amounted to 3978, and that their Irish possessions, as far as 
could be computed, were of the annual value of two 
hundred and eleven thousand six hundred and twenty- 
three pounds — comprising one million sixty thousand and 
ninety-two acres. This fund was sold under the authori- 
ty of an English act of Parliament, to defray the expense 
incurred by England in reducing the rebels of 1688; and 
the sale introduced into Ireland a new set of adventurers." 
"It is a very curious and important speculation to look 
back to the forfeitures Ireland incurred in the last cen- 
tury. The superficial contents of the Island are calculat- 
ed at eleven million forty-two thousand six hundred and 
eighty-two acres. Let us now examine the state of for- 
feitures: ^ ACRES# 

In the reign of James I, the whole of the province of 

Ulster was confiscated, containing .... 2,836,837 
Set out by Court of Claims at restoration . . . 7,800,000 
Forfeitures of 1688 1,060,792 

Total 11,697,629 

" So that the whole of your island has been confiscated 
with the exception of the estates of five or six families 
of English blood, some of whom had been attainted in 
the reign of Henry VIII, but recovered their possessions 
before Tyrone's rebellion, and had the good fortune to 
escape the pillage of the English Republic inflicted by 
Cromwell ; and no inconsiderable portion of the island 
has been confiscated twice, or perhaps thrice in the course 
of a century. The situation, therefore, of the Irish na- 
tion at the revolution stands unparalleled in the history 
of the inhabited world. If the wars of England carried 
on here from the reign of Elizabeth, had been waged 
against a foreign country, the inhabitants would have 
retained their possessions, under the established law of 
civilized nations, and their country have been annexed 
as a province to the British Empire." 



THE GERALDINE FORFEITURES IN MUNSTER. 61 

The greatest plantation (before that of James I,) was 
that which ensued at the 

TERMINATION OF THE WAR AGAINST THE EARL OF DES- 
MOND. 

This great Earl possessed vast estates, upon which the 
eyes of the English adventurers and undertakers had long 
been lovingly cast. In Kerry, Cork, Waterford and Lim- 
erick, his prodigious principality extended over one 
hundred and fifty miles, and contained 574,624 acres, on 
which were built numerous houses and castles. This ex- 
tensive territory was covered with great herds of cattle, 
and presented an aspect of high cultivation. The Earl 
was Lord Palatine of Kerry, and Lord of Imokilly. His 
vassals were numerous, and there were above five hundred 
gentlemen of his ancient lineage. "He levied coygne and 
livery upon his tenants in Limerick. He had all the 
wrecks of the sea in the ports and creeks of Kerry, and a 
certain sum out of every fishing boat in the ports of Ventry 
and Ferreters Island. It was said that he was able to 
raise at a call 2,000 foot and 600 horse." (Smith, An. 
of Cork, Vol. 1, p. 51.) 

At the commencement of the great Geraldine war, the 
Earl had stood aloof, but his professions of loyalty were 
disregarded, and, he was summoned by Sir William 
Pelham, Lord Deputy, to surrender himself a prisoner 
within twenty days. He refused, for he well knew what 
his fate would have been if he were mad enough to trust 
himself into the hands of an English deputy. He was 
thus precipitated into war, which he waged with great 
spirit and energy against Pelham. "Desmond, who had 
engaged in this rebellion inconsiderately," says Leland, 
"now saw the whole extent of his territory ravaged and 
depopulated without mercy. His miserable vassals were 
abandoned to daily slaughter, or to the still more horrible 
calamity of famine. Fire, famine and slaughter were let 
loose upon the doomed districts, and the worse than can- 
nibal English soldiers relentlessly slaughtered men, wo- 
men and infants. One of the plunderers, who afterwards 
profited by the spoil of the Geraldine, and whose sweet 



6*2 ENGLISH UNDERTAKERS IN MUNSTER. 

poetry has earned for him a fame for gentleness his po- 
litical writings scarcely merits, has in terse and pictur- 
esque language chronicled the horrors which made his 
fortune." (MacNevin's Conf. of Ulster.) 

The arms of England triumphed. The Earl met an 
obscure andpainful^death at the hands of a traitor, Daniel 
Kelly, of Morierta. His death ended the war, though 
not the butcheries of the soldiers, and Munster was paci- 
fied by the extermination of her people. The Earl of 
Desmond and about one hundred and forty of his associ- 
ates were attainted, and all their honors and estates de- 
clared to be forfeited. This plunder was enormous. Des- 
mond's estates alone were estimated at five hundred and 
seventy-five thousand acres. And thus, to use the lan- 
guage of her admirers, was every obstacle removed to 
Elizabeth's favorite scheme of 

RE-PEOPLING MUNSTER WITH AN ENGLISH COLONY. 

Letters were forwarded to every county in England, to 
encourao-e younger members of families to become under- 
takers in Ireland. The forfeitures were divided into seig- 
iiories, and granted to English knights, esquires, and 
gentlemen, and they undertook to perform certain condi- 
tions stipulated in the royal articles for the plantation of 
the province. Hence came the use of the ominous name 
of undertaker as applied to these land-robbers of Ireland. 

Though 12,000 acres were fixed on as the largest por- 
tion for any one undertaker, the Queen, in order suitably 
to reward Sir Walter Raleigh for his services at Golden 
Fort (where, after the garrison had surrendered at dis- 
cretion, he slew every man,) she granted him forty-two 
thousand acres in Cork and Waterford. Of this immense 
estate portions were bestowed on the following named 
undertakers : acres. 

County Waterford, Sir Christopher Hutton 10,910 

County Waterford and Cork, Sir Walter Raleigh 42,000 

County Waterford and Cork, Richard Bacon 6,000 

County Cork, Sir Wareham Sa:nt Leger, ancestor of the 

Viscounts Doneraile 6,000 

County Cork, Hu^h Cuffe "" 6,000 

County Cork, Sir Thomas Norris 6,000 



CONFISCATIONS IN MUNSTEE. 63 

County Cork, Arthur Robbins 1,800 

County Cork, Sir Arthur Hyde 5,574 

County Cork, Francis Beecher 12,000 

County Cork, Hugh Worth 12,000 

County Cork, Thomas Say ... 8,778 

County Cork, Arthur Hyde, Esq 11,766 

County Cork, Edmund Spenser ("gentle poet ") 3,028 

County Kerry, Sir Edward Denny 6,000 

County Kerry, Sir William Herbert 13,276 

County Kerry, Charles Herbert 3,768 

County Kerry, John Holly 4,422 

County Kerry, Captain Jenkin Conway 526 

County Kerry, John Champion 1,434 

County Limerick, Sir William Courtney 10,500 

County Limerick, Francis Berkely 7,250 

County Limerick, Robert Anslow 2,599 

County Limerick, Richard and Alexander Felton 8,026 

County Limerick, Edmund Mainwarmg 3,747 

County Limerick, Wm. Trenchard 12,000 

County Limerick, George Thornton 1,500 

County Limerick, Sir George Boucher 12,880 

County Limerick, Henry Billingsley 11,800 

Inverary, Thomas, Earl of Ormond 3,000 

Inverary , Sir Edward Tilton 11,515 

Total 205,490 

The most striking feature in the conditions of this 
plantation was the exclusion of the owners of the soil 
from even the subordinate station of tenantry. 

NO IRISH WERE TO BE ADMITTED 

to stand even in that humble relation to the successful 
plunderers who usurped their lands — a provision of 
tyranny, possibly the most impudent that ever was made. 
But it was disregarded. Some English historians have 
the coolness to regret the plantation of Munster was a 
failure because some of the planters did not respect the 
wise provisions of the " plot of the Queen's offer," and 
because Leland says " leases and conveyances were made 
to many of the Irishry." In many instances the lands 
were abandoned to the old possessors ; and where the 
undertakers entered upon their seignories, they did not 
reside, but appointed idle, ignorant, corrupt and oppres- 
sive agents. Neither did they comply with a still more 



64 THE NEW OWNERS MOSTLY ABSENTEES. 

necessary and wise condition of the " Queen's plot,'" 
namely, to make provisions for effectual defense. They 
were thriftless gamesters, these undertakers ; they would 
enjoy as largely as they could, the property of the peo- 
ple, but they were not honest enough to discharge the 
noble duties of proprietorship, nor wise enough to make 
due provision against the natural and just enmity of 
those whose plunder had enriched them. 

Ulster, however, proved to be a more generous field for 
the undertaker, for even before James' systematic scheme 
was entered upon, we read that " about the year 1584 a 
thousand Scottish Highlanders, called ' Red-shanks,' of 
the septs and families of the Cambiles (probably, says 
MacNevin, Campbells), Macdonnells and Magalanes, led 
by Surleboy, a Scottish chieftain, invaded Ulster. Other 
surrounding parties of their nation had already possessed 
themselves of the lands of Irish chieftains at the Glynnes 
and the Route in Antrim. It was at the beginning- of 
the fifteenth century that the settlement of the Mac- 
donnells took place in Antrim. They were a younger 
branch of the MacDonalds, who were Kings and Lords 
of the Isle." One of them, Angus Oge, Lord of the 
Isles, married the daughter of O'Cahan, the chief of the 
O'Cahan's, of Arachty. The marriage portion, this 
distinguished lady brought to her husband, consisted of a 
number of handsome young men, " whose posterity are 
yet in the Isles and are known by the peculiarity of their 
names to belong to that race. 

John of Isles, the second son of John, Lord of the West- 
ern Isles, or ^Ebrides, was established at the Glynnes, in 
Argyleshire; his descendants settled in the north of Ire- 
land, one of whom was Alexander, who got a gold sword 
and silver gilt spear from the Earl of Sussex in 1557, for 
his services in Scotland, and the monastery and its lands 
of Glenarm were given to him. His son was Sorlebuidh 
(commonly written Sorleboy,) whose son was the first 
Earl of Antrim. Sorlebuidh married Mary, daughter of 
Conn O'Neill. 

These invaders in time intermarried with the Irish, and 
became the most formidable enemies of England in her 



SETTLEMENT OF SCOTTISH HIGHLANDERS. 65 

designs of settlement. It was ostensibly to root out this 
Scottish colony that Elizabeth sent Essex to Ireland, but 
his failure only fixed them more firmly in their place and 
in 1603 James I confirmed Sir Ronald MacDonnell in the 
principality of the Route. 
The settlement of 

THE MONTGOMERIES IN THE ARPES OF DOWN 

presents some singular features worthy of note, inas- 
much as they came with clearer hands and a fairer title 
than any of the Scotch or English adventurers who had 
plundered the people out of their lands since the advent 
of the Anglo-Norman. Hugh, the leader of the Mont- 
gomeries into Ireland, was a well descended adventurer, 
and in addition to his good birth, he was connected with 
the Earl of Eglintown family; he possessed spirit and 
talent. It appears that Conn O'Neill had sent some of 
his followers into the town of Castlereagh, and they had 
become involved in an affray with the soldiers, some of 
whom were killed. Conn and a number of his people 
were found guilty of levying war on the Queen (Eliza- 
beth), and he was sent to prison at Carrickfergus. While 
Conn's matter was pending the Queen died; the said 
Hugh Montgomery, who was cognizant of the particulars 
of the affair, obtained from Conn O'Neill a grant of half 
his lands, on the condition of effecting his escape and 
giving him a shelter. His escape effected, Conn went to 
Scotland, and was well received by Hugh and his wife, 
called Laird and Lady Braidstone. 

The territories of Conn O'Neill were very extensive, 
consisting of the entire parishes of Breda, Knock, Kirk- 
donnell, Hollywood, Donaghadee, Grey Abbey, St. An- 
drews, and a great part of the parish of Drum. The 
Laird and Conn proceeded to London, and by the influence 
of the former, with the Scotch James, obtained Conn's 
pardon. Conn was graciously received at court — as 
others of the name had been received before — and orders 
given for letters patent concerning his Majesty's pleasure 
in the matter of the grant to Hugh Montgomery under 
condition that the lands should be planted with British 



Q6 CONN O NEILL AND THE MONTGOMEEIES. 

Protestants, and that no grant of fee farm should be made 
to any person of mere Irish extraction. A great change 
was afterwards made in these letters patent, whereby 
Mr. James Hamilton obtained one-third of the whole es- 
tates, " so that the sea coasts might be possessed by Scot- 
tish men, who would be traders proper for his Majesty's 
future advantage." Castlereagh, which Conn had desired 
to retain, was considered too great a favor for an Irish- 
man. Hamilton and Montgomery were both Knighted. 
The two Knights and Conn O'Neill executed tripartite 
indentures to the effect of the King's pleasure, but by 
some underhanded arrangement the King's patent issued 
only to Hamilton, and he was declared trustee for Conn 
O'Neill and Sir Hugh Montgomery. In order to reconcile 
Montgomery to yielding up a portion of his moiety of the 
O'Neill lands, the King promised to compensate him out 
of the Abbey lands and impropriations, which in a few 
months he was to grant in fee. It soon became evident 
that Hamilton had made a better bargain than Montgom- 
ery had, and obtained a better share of the dividend, 
although he came later into the field. He managed to 
engross in the patent many more church lands than Mont- 
gomery had, " and," says an old chronicler, " he was so 
wise as to take, on easy terms, endless leases of much 
more of Conn's third part, and from other despairing 
Irishes than Sir Hugh had done. Having taken posses- 
sion of their newly-acquired lands, they were raised a step 
in the peerage by the titles respectively of Lord Mont- 
gomery, of Ardes, and Lord Hamilton, of Claneboy. 

Conn O'Neill, as might be expected, was not long left 
his thirds, for on the 14th of March, 1606, only three 
years after his first contract with Montgomery, he exe- 
cuted to him a feoffment of all his lands, and also a deed 
of sale of the timber growing on four of his townlands. 
And now the Montgomery plantation began in right ear- 
nest. The land, however, was found to be mostlv without 
inhabitants, the soil had been reaped with fire and sword, 
and was desolate; head rents must be paid to the King, 
and there were no tenants to pay them. To repair these 
evils, the undertakers made some of their friends and 



CONN O'NEILL LOSES ALL. 67 

retainers sharers under them as freeholders and laborers. 
There came several farmers under Montgomery, gentle- 
men from Scotland, "of the names of Shaw, Calderwood, 
Boyd, Keith, Maxwell, Ross, Barclay, Moore, Bayley, 
whose posterity hold there to this day. By the Mont- 
gomeries some foundations were made for towns, as New- 
town, Donaghadee, Comber, Old and New Grey Abbey; 
Hamilton also founded tovvns and corporations, as Ban- 
gor, Hollywood, Kilileagh ( with a strong castle) and 
Ballywater. When these things were done, and a fair 
promise thereby given that the new settlements would 
have towns and marts of trade, the Scots came there 
willingly and numerously, and became tenants and sub- 
tenants to their countrymen, and the land, though not 
with its own children, came to be peopled again. 

From a report of the commissioners appointed by 
Parliament to enquire into the forfeited lands granted by 
William after the revolution of 1688, the following 
extract is given: 

"The commissioners met with great difficulties in their 
inquiries, which were occasioned by the backwardness of 
the people of Ireland to give any information, out of fear 
of the grantees, whose displeasure in that kingdom was 
not easily borne, and by reports industriously spread 
and believed, that their inquiry would come to nothing. 
Nevertheless, it appeared to them that the persons out- 
lawed in England, since the loth O- February, 1688, on 
account of the late rebellion, amounted in number to 
fifty-seven, and in Ireland to three thousand nine hun- 
dred and twenty-one. That in all the land in the several 
counties in Ireland belonging to the forfeited persons, as 
far as they could reckon, made 1,060,792 acres, worth 
£211,623, which by computation of six years purchase for 
a life, and thirteen years for the inheritance, came to the 
full value of £268,138. That some of those lands had 
been restored to the old proprietors, by virtue of the ar- 
ticles of Limerick and Gallway, and by his majesty's fa- 
vor, and the reversal of outlawries, and royal pardons, ob- 
tained chiefly by gratifications to such persons as had 
abused his majesty's royal bounty and commission. 



68 REPORT ON FORFEITED LANDS AFTER 1688. 

" Besides these restitutions, which they thought to be 
corruptly procured, they gave an account of seventy-six 
grants and custodiums under the great seal of Ireland; 
as to the Lord Rumney three grants now in being, con- 
taining 49,517 acres; to the Earl of Albemarle in two 
grants, 108,633 acres, in possession and reversion; to 
William Bentwick, Esq., Lord Woodstock, 135,820 acres 
of land; to the Earl of Athlone, to grants, containing 
26,480 acres, etc, to the Earl of Galloway, on grant, 
36,148 acres, wherein they observed that the estates 
so mentioned, did not yield so much to the grant- 
ers as they were valued at, because, as most of 
them had abused his Majesty in the real value of the 
estates, so their agents had imposed, upon them, and had 
either sold or let the greater part of those lands at an 
under value. But after all deductions and allowances, 
there yet remained £1,699, 343. 14s. which they lay before 
the Commons as the gross value of the estates since the 
13th day of February, 1688, and not restored; besides 
a grant under the great seal of Ireland, dated the 13th 
of May, 1695, passed to Mrs. Elizabeth Villiers, now Coun- 
tess of Orkney, of all the private estates of the late King 
James (except some part in grant to Lord Athlone), 
containing 95,649 acres, worth per annum £25, 995. 18s., 
value total, £331, 943.9s. Concluding that there was 
payable out of this estate, £2,000 per annum to Mrs. 
Godfrey for her life, and that almost all the old leases 
determined in 1701; and this estate would answer the 
value above mentioned." This report is signed by the 
Parliamentary Commissioners, Francis Annesley, John 
Trenchard, James Hamilton and Henry Langford. The 
Court Commissioners were Henry, Earl of Drogheda, 
Sir Richard Leving and Sir Francis Brewster. It would 
be interesting to discover what were the valuable ser- 
vices rendered by Mrs. Elizabeth Villiers (she was made 
Countess of Orkney in 1695 ) in quelling the insurrec- 
tion in Ireland, to entitle her to so munificent a reward as 
a grant of 95,649 acres, at that time worth £25,995. 18s. 



ACCESSION OF JAMES THE FIRST. 69 

SUBMISSION OF THE NORTHERN CHIEFTAINS. 

The Ulster princes, beaten and baffled on every hand, 
deserted by some of their adherents who took the bribes 
of England, and maddened by dissensions, were at last 
obliged to come to terms of peace. Elizabeth, knowing 
and acknowledging the prowess of the O'Neill, was will- 
ing to make favorable terms. The deputy, Mountjoy, 
met O'Neil at Mellefont Abbey in March, '1603. Terms 
were there arranged. The Ulster prince should relinquish 
the title of O'Neill, and assume that of Earl of Tyrone, and 
make submission to the English throne, but was allowed 
free exercise of his religion, and the greater portions of 
his lands should become his by a grant from the Eng- 
lish crown. These were certainly favorable terms and 
speak well for the high opinion entertained of O'Neill 
by Elizabeth. 

ACCESSION OF JAMES I. 

Scarcely had the negotiations been concluded when 
James succeeded to the throne on the death of Eliza- 
beth, as a prince of Celtic blood, and the son of a Catho- 
lic mother, the Irish expected kindly treatment at the 
hands of James. How miserably they were disappointed 
is well known. The pedantic and hypocritical king was 
surrounded by a lot of adventurers, hungry Scotch vul- 
tures, ready to whet their beaks on any kind of prey. 
James was equally needy and extravagant. What could 
he do to satisfy his followers and provide for himself ? 
Should any estates become the property of the crown he 
could satisfy all. It was soon discovered that O'Neill 
was uneasy, and a pretense was made of finding a com- 
munication which indicated that he and other princes 
were implicated in a conspiracy to murder the lord dep- 
uty. He was summoned to Dublin and afterwards to 
London to answer to the charge, but wisely believing 
that there was no justice to be had in either place, and 
being utterly unable to offer any armed resistance to the 
encroachments of the " hangers-on " of James, he fled to 
Normandy, and thence to Italy, visiting most of the Eu- 
ropean courts, where he was received with great distinc- 



70 COMMISSION ON DEFECTIVE TITLES. 

tion. O'Sullivan, who had made such a gallant resist- 
ance in the South, fled to Spain where he distinguished 
himself in the service of the State, and was treacherously 
assassinated by an Englishman. Cahir O'Doherty, who 
was a most "trooly loil" subject of England, was forced 
into a revolt, and the whole province of Ulster was con- 
fiscated to the crown, and conferred by James on his 
beggarly Scotch retainers, and on some London compa- 
nies as an equivalent for various loans made to sustain 
the bibulous and lecherous monarch, his lackeys and miss- 
tresses. 

One hundred and ten thousand acres in Tyrone and 
Tyrconnell were thus given to the mercer's, tailor's, tin- 
ner's and other societies. A commission was instituted 
to examine into defective titles, and 385,000 acres in 
Leinster, held on what the commissioners were pleased 
to call defective titles, were also confiscated, and con- 
ferred on the commissioners and their friends. 

Thus was the entire province of Ulster and no incon- 
siderable portion of Leinster, taken from the rightful 
owners. The Irish were reduced to abject poverty, 
their religion banned, education save by the robber's 
band, forbidden; the native chiefs were driven into exile, 
and nothing was heard of them for some time, save as 
free lances in the armies of every nation opposed to 
England. 

REIGN OF JAMES THE FIEST. 

On the 5th of April, 1603, James I. ascended the 
throne. The genius of his predecessor had removed 
every difficulty to his government in England ; and in 
Ireland, he was the first English monarch whose dominion 
extended over the whole island. Though to Elizabeth, un- 
der the policy of the crafty and astute Mountjoy, is due 
the credit of the submission of Hugh O'Neill ; she did 
not live to enjoy the homage of her brave foe. His 
capitulation was not signed until after her death, a fact 
which was wisely concealed from him. The two great 
northern chiefs, Hugh O'Neill and Roderick O'Donnell 
were received at Court in a flattering manner, and 
O'Neill was confirmed in all his property and possessions 



ENGLISH DOMINION OVER ALL IRELAND. 71 

with the title, Earl of Tyrconnell. James published an 
act of oblivion and indemnity. The English laws of inheri- 
tance and English tenures were adopted in place of the 
customs formerly prevailing of Tanistry and Gavelkind. 
" The commission of Grace" issued, under which the 
Irish Lords yielded their estates to the Crown, and re- 
ceived them again under the English titles of Knight 
Service or Common Soccage ; inquisitions were holden 
into the amount of land in possession of the chieftains, 
in order that none should receive a re-grant of more than 
was actually in his possession ; and the tenants under 
each lord, relieved of uncertain contributions and exac- 
tions, held their lands subject to an annual rent and free 
tenures. O'Neill having made his submission, their was 
but little resistance to the 

INTRODUCTION OF ENGLISH LAW INTO ULSTER. 

The country was divided into counties, and Sheriffs 
appointed to administer the provisions of the English 
law. Peace seemed, for a brief moment, to hover over 
this war-desolated and harassed country. " Equal laws 
and civilized customs," under English rule, were intended 
solely for the benefit of those who conformed to the prac- 
tices of the Church, as by law established. An Act of 
Uniformity, passed in a Parliament of the Pale, in the 
second year of Elizabeth, was published in Dublin by the 
King's Council, by which attendance on Catholic wor- 
ship was prohibited under severe penalties. On the 4th 
of July, 1605, a royal proclamation issued, by the terms 
of which James effectually dispelled the ideas of all who 
had vainly expected freedom of conscience, or even the 
barest religious toleration, from him. He told " his be- 
loved subjects " that he would not admit anything of the 
kind, and fixed a certain day for every Catholic priest to 
depart the realm or abide the consequences. " And then 
commenced a religious war of great cruelty and folly. 
The magistrates and citizens of Dublin were enjoined to 
repair to the churches of the Establishment. The prisons 
were peopled with " recusants," the priests were forced 
to fly the country, or else conceal themselves in secret 



72 ENGLISH LAWS INTRODUCED. 

places, to avoid the gibbet and the lash. The terrors of 
the penal law, let loose by the theologic fury of the King, 
were increased by the avarice and cruelty of the san- 
guinary Chichester. Up to the year 1605 the sees of 
Derry, Raphoe and Clogher, which extended over the 
greater part of Ulster, had been occupied by Roman 
Catholic prelates; and the abbeys and monasteries, which 
had been formally dissolved half a century before, still 
continued to be the centers round which flocked numer- 
ous priests, friars and other ecclesiastical persons. But 
the publication of this Proclamation was the signal for 
returning into the King's hands those edifices of religion 
and ejecting their inmates. And what made these op- 
pressions more bitter in the North was the striking fact 
that there, as we may conclude from Davies' account of 
Chichester's progress in Ulster in 1607, there was not a, 
single Protestant outside the numerous garrisons of the 
English. By the same authority, we find that up to this 
period it was impossible that the principles of the Refor- 
mation could have been at all known in Ulster, for no 
religious teaching had been provided for the people. The 
tidings of a reformed religion were preached from no pul- 
pit; the rectors and bishops who had been appointed 
were non-resident, and the Catholics were reduced to the 
alternative of enduring penalties for the profession of the 
faith they had been reared in or embracing a religion in 
which they had received no spiritual instruction. All 
apprehension of an Irish war being allayed by the sub- 
mission of the northern chieftains, whose powers seemed 
utterly broken, my Lord Deputy proceeded to settle those 
counties. The expedient was adopted of getting up fic- 
titious plots and fastening them upon whatever party 
they designed to plunder and ruin. The King's Bishop 
of Meath gives this account of the matter, which has been 
generally accepted as the most correct version: " A. D. 
1007 there was a providential 

DISCOVERY OF ANOTHER REBELLION IN IRELAND, 

the Lord Chichester being deputy, the discoverer not 
being willing to appear, a letter from him not subscribed, 



SHAM REBELLION. 73 

was superscribed to Sir William Usher, clerk of the 
Council, and dropped in the council chamber of Dublin 
Castle, in which was mentioned a design for seizing* the 
Castle and surrendering the Deputy with a general revolt 
and dependence on the Spanish forces; and this also for 
religion, for particulars, whereof, says the bishop, " I 
refer to that letter dated March the 19th, 1607.'' By 
such, and similar means, "Artful Cecil " succeeded in 
fixing upon O'Neill and O'Donneil a charge of treason, to 
sustain which, there had not been then, or unto this day a 
particle of evidence disclosed. Having a wholesome 
terror of juries, which in those days, as in later ones, 
have ever proved in the hands of English manipulators, 
pliant tools for the sure condemnation of Irish patriots. 
The chiefs, with their families, took shipping from 
Lough Swilly, and departed to France, never more to 
return. Here was brought about the very state of affairs 
that James had long desired. " Nothing," says Dr. Leland, 
u could be more favorable to that passion, which James 
indulged for reforming Ireland, by the introduction of 
English laws and civility. The flight of the chiefs was 
rapidly followed by a commission empowered to deal 
with " traitors " and to take an account of the lands 
which were to escheat to the Crown. The two Earls 
were duly attainted of High Treason, together with sev- 
eral other chieftains, and the darling project of the 
rapacious James. 

THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER 

commenced. But so flagitious did the proceeding ap- 
pear, even to himself, that he feared the representations 
of his outlawed and fugitive subjects would meet with a 
ready credence from the sympathies of Catholic Europe. 
He resolved to prevent such a result by publishing a 
statement of his own case, which he attempted by procla- 
mation, dated 15th November, 1607. It is the basest 
and most despicable document preserved amongst the 
State papers of the English Government. It stated 
what was notoriously false, that the Earls " were base 
and rude in their originall;" that they had not their pos- 



74 JAMES' PLANTATION SCHEME. 

sessions by lawful or lineal descent from ancestors of 
blood or virtue; and that their only reason for flight was 
the private knowledge and inward terror " of their own 
guiltiness." A much more unblushing falsehood was, 
that they had endured no molestation on the ground of re- 
ligion, and that the manners of the Earls were so barbarous 
and unchristian, that it would be unreasonable to trouble 
them about any form of faith, much more to this purpose, 
equally malignant and untrue, did James's proclamation 
contain; but it was without effect. Its manifest false- 
hood and undisguised rancor deprived it of any power to 
work evil against the fugitives, in that quarter where 
James was most anxious to misrepresent and injure them. 
They continued the honored guests of the courts of Eu- 
rope, illustrious examples of the great reverses of fortune, 
and of the perfidy of monarchs." 

"The Irish chiefs possessed the suzerainte but not 
the property of the soil; consequently the guilt of O'Neill 
and O'Dougherty, though ever so clearly proved, could not 
affect the right to their feudatories, who were not even 
accused of treason. The English law of forfeiture, in it- 
self sufficiently unjust, never declared that the innocent 
tenants should be sacrificed for the rebellion of the land- 
lords ; it only placed the king in the place of the person 
whose property had been forfeited, and left all the rela- 
tions of the landlord unaltered. Yet were all the actual 
holders of lands in these devoted districts dispossessed 
without even the shadow of a pretense ; and this abomin- 
able wickedness is even at the present day eulogised by 
many as the consummation of political wisdom. " (De- 
Beaumont's Ireland, Vol. 1.) 

However not without one gallant, even if futile, protest 
was the great iniquity perpetrated. Sir Cahir O'Dougher- 
ty, the prince of Inishowen, a man young in years, de- 
termined to assert his independence. Gathering his fol- 
lowers around him, he surprised the town of Derry, slew 
the governor and took various English stations. He pur- 
sued a vigorous guerilla warfare for about five months, 
when a chance shot having; killed their leader, his follow- 
ers dispersed, and any who fell into the hands of the Eng- 
lish were savagely executed with but short shrift. 



CONFISCATIONS UNDER JAMES I. 75 

This was the last blow attempted in Ulster, which 
thenceforward presented a scene of misery, desolation 
and helplessness on the part of the people, which 
afforded the reforming spirit of James an unobstructed 
field in which to carry out his long contemplated designs 
of rapine and spoliation. A large tract of land in the six 
northern counties, Tyrowen the principality of O'Neill ; 
Coleaiine, or Derry, O'Cahan's country; Donegal, 
the principality of O'Donnell; Fermanagh, McGuire's 
country; Cavan, O'Reilly's country; and Armagh fell into 
James' hands by a forced construction of the law of for- 
feiture and escheat. The suppression of O'Dougherty's 
attempt cleared the way for the completion of the policy 
of fraud and violence by which a splendid country was 
torn from its just possessors, and an ancient people 
banished from the dwellings of their fathers. By means 
of these shameful sham-plots, or pretended conspiracies 
to excite rebellion, five hundred thousand acres of land 
were basely pillaged and handed over to the rapacious 
James of England. 

James determined to dispose of the lands to his 
English and Scotch subjects, to the exclusion of the 
original Irish owners. For the absence of integrity and 
national honor in such a proceeding, there was in the 
opinion of the king and his courtiers, an ample compen- 
sation in the purposes of peace and conciliation to which 
he intended to apply the vast bulk of forfeited property 
which had come into his hands. That his opinions and 
determinations on this subject were of long standing, 
we may assume, from the fact that Lord Bacon's first 
suggestions for the planting of Ireland bear date long 
before the flightof the Earls. Indeed, it is impossible to 
resist the belief that from the beginning of this reign 
Cecil and the other courtiers, surrounded by hungry, 
ambitious and reckless adventurers having hoards of 
useless retainers, with a deficient public revenue, and 
anxious it may be admitted, to establish permanent peace 
in Ireland, where the most enormous expenses had been 
incurred in the long continuance of war, had planned 
the sham-plot, the flight and the forfeiture, at once to 



76 CONFISCATIONS UNDER JAMES I. 

get rid of the enemies of England, to provide for their 
hungry applicants, and 

TO GARRISON IRELAND FOR THE ENGLISH CROWN. 

The six counties which were marked as the prey of the 
undertakers for the Wingfields, the Caulnelds, the 
Chichesters, and the Blayneys, exceeded in length and 
breadth the large counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire, 
in England. No part of Ireland was more rich in natu- 
ral fertility and cultivation, and though the barbarous 
hand of English rapine had been busy during the recent 
wars with its teeming fields, it yet bore to the hungry 
hordes that awaited its partition, the abundant promise 
of untold wealth. James himself is the safest witness 
that can be called to testify to the natural wealth and 
fertility of the soil he was about to plant. In seeking to 
persuade " the incomparable city of London " to under- 
take a Northern Plantation, he presented them with the 
following " Reasons and Motives" : 

THE LAND COMMODITIES WHICH THE NORTH OF IRELAND 

PRODUCETH. 

"The country is well watered, generally by an abund- 
ance of springs, brooks and rivers; and plenty of fuel, 
either by means of wood, or where that is wanting of 
good and wholesome turf. 

" It yieldeth store of all necessaries for man's suste- 
nance, in such measures as may not only maintain itself, 
but also furnish the city of London yearly, with manifold 
provisions, especially for their fleets, namely, with beef, 
pork, fish, rye, bere, peas and beans, which will also, in 
some years, help the dearth of the city and country about, 
and the storehouses appointed for the relief of the poor. 

" As it is fit for all sorts of husbandry, so for breeding 
of mares and increase of cattle it doth excel, whence 
may be expected, butter, cheese, hides and tallow. 

" English sheep will breed abundantly in Ireland, the 
sea-coast, and the nature of the soil, being very whole- 
some for them; and, if need be, wool might be had 
cheaply and plentifully out of the west parts of Scotland. 



CONFISCATIONS UNDER JAMES I. 77 

" It is held to be good in many places for madder, 
hops, and woad. 

" It affordeth fells of all sorts, in great quantity, red 
deer, foxes, sheep, lamb, rabbits, martins, squirrels, etc. 

"Hemp and flax do more naturally grow there than else- 
where; which being well regarded, might give great pro- 
vision for canvass, cables, cordage, and such like requi- 
sites for shipping, besides thread, linen cloth, and all 
stuffs made of linen yarn, which is more fine and plenti- 
ful there than in all the rest of the kingdom. 

" Materials for building — timber, stone of all sorts, 
limestone, slate and shingles are afforded in most parts 
of the country, and the soil is good for brick and tile. 

"Materials for building of ships, excepting tar, are 
there to be had in great plenty, and in the country ad- 
joining, the goodliest and largest timber in the woods of 
Glanconkene and Killetrough that may be, and may 
compare with any in his Majesty's dominions, which may 
easily be brought to the sea by Lough Neagh, and the 
river of the Bann. The fir masts, of all sorts, may be 
had out of Lochabar, in Scotland, not far distant from 
the North of Ireland, much more easily than from Nor- 
way; other sorts of wood do afford many services, for 
pipe staves, hogshead staves, clapboard staves, wainscot 
soap and dyeing ashes, glass and iron work, for iron and 
copper ore are there plentifully had. 

" The country is very plentiful for honey and wax. 

" THE SEA AND RIVER COMMODITIES." 

" The harbor of the river of Derry is exceeding good, 
and the road of Portrush and Lough Swilly, not far dis- 
tant from Derry, tolerable. 

" The sea fishing of that coast is very plentiful of all 
manner of usual sea fish,especially herrings and seals,there 
being yearly,after Michaelmas,for taking of herrings above 
seven or eight score of his Majesty's subjects and strangers 
for lading, besides an infinite number of boats for fishing 
and killing. Great and profitable fishing are in the 
next adjacent islands of Scotland, where many Holland- 
ers do fish all the summer season, and do plentifully vend 



78 THE GOODLY COMMODITIES OF ULSTER. 

their fish, and within the Straits much train or fish oil, 
of seal, herrings, etc, may be made upon that coast. 

"As the sea yieldeth very great plenty and variety of 
fine sea fish, so doth the coast afford an abundance of all 
manner of sea-fowl, and the rivers greater store of fresh 
fish than any of the rivers in England. 

" There is also some store of good pearls upon this 
coast, especially within the river of Lough Foyle. 

"The coasts be ready for traffic with England and Scot- 
land, and for supply of provision from or to them, and 
do lie open and convenient for Spain and the Straits, and 
fittest and nearest for Newfoundland. 

THIS COUNTRY, SO BLEST BY NATURE, 

in her most bountiful mood, was possessed by a brave, 
war-like and religious people. They were 'frank, amor- 
ous, ireful, sufferable of paines infinite, very glorious, 
excellent horsemen, delighted with wars, great alms-giv- 
ers, passing in hospitalitie,' so wrote Campion in his 'His- 
torie of Ireland.' " 

" In battle " says Lingard, in his History, Vol. 2, p. 
249, " they measured the valour of the combatants by 
their contempt of artificial assistance; and when they be- 
held the English Knights covered with iron, hesitated not 
to pronounce them void of courage. Their own arms 
were a short lance, or two javelins, a sword called a 
skean, about fifteen inches long, and an axe of steel called 
a sparthe. The latter proved a most formidable weapon. 
It was wielded with one hand, but with such address and 
impetuosity as generally to penetrate through the best 
tempered armour. If we were to judge by modern En- 
glish historians, the Irish people at the accession of James — 
nay some, like the bigot Hume, have said from the earliest 
periods — were buried in the most profound barbarism, even 
though from the fifth century they had enjoyed the light 
of Christianity, and though the priests and missionaries 
of the country had preserved, through mediaeval gloom, 
both faith and learning, and propagated them through 
the world. In the tenth century, ere the history of En- 
gland had well begun, and when the greatest part of 



THE VALOR AND PROWESS OF THE NATIVES. 79 

Europe was involved in darkness, a steady light of piety 
and learning continued to shine in this island, and shed 
its rays over the neighboring countries. In the schools of 
the continent, the Irish scholars continued to retain their 
former superiority, and amongst the dwarf intellects of 
that time towered as giants, (See Morris' His., Vol. 2, p. 
30.) In France and Germany, the monasteries of the 
Irish, the only retirements for piety and learning in an 
ungodly age, were nourishing, and the fame of Irish 
scholars was cheerfully recognized. Irish monks founded 
a school at Glastonbury, in England, where St. Dunstan 
imbibed under their teaching the very marrow of spirit- 
ual learning. There that distinguished ornament of the 
English Church was learnedly accomplished, according to 
the acquisitions of the time, in astronomy, arithmetic and 
geometry; and there, too, he cultivated that sweet taste 
for music, in which he indulged through his life. (Will- 
iam of Malmesbury's Life of St. Dunstan, Vol. 2, p. 134.) 
And so did piety and virtue continue to flourish in Ire- 
land, until by the constant intercourse, both peaceable 
and warlike, with the Danes, and by their employment as 
mercenaries of those barbarians in local feuds, the Irish 
had become familiar with rapine and all turbulent crimes, 
and a national degeneracy had been thereby produced, 
which continued increasing up to the time of the English 
invasion. Then it may, without disparagement to our 
country, be admitted that the Irish were matched against 
a people possessing, at that time, superior civilization, 
greater resources, and a more compact and better system 
of government. A nation governed by innumerable 
princes and chiefs, had to meet in battle and to struggle 
with, in policy, a country having but one center of power, 
one head, one recognized source of government. It is 
no shame that with such unequal odds they were worsted 
in the long contest of ages, and it is a matter of national 
pride that so noble and unceasing a resistance was made, 
with such discordant materials. 

SOCIAL CONDITION OP THE TWO RACES COMPARED. 

But much as Ireland had degenerated since the Eng- 



80 THE DETERIORATION OF THE IRISH. 

lish invasion, she still enjoyed at the accession of James, 
a great degree of civilization, when compared with other 
countries at the same period. Under the rule of her na- 
tive chieftains, religion had been protected and the 
country was covered with the noblest architectural monu- 
ments of princely piety, many of which subsequently, 
she was stripped of, by the sacnligeous fury of the English. 
Laws had been propounded with solemn sanctions, laws 
repugnant to later notions and to the refinements of mod- 
ern ages, but suited to the wants, the genius, and the feel- 
ings of the people. Among the chieftains had been, and 
still were many of high accomplishments, courtesy, and 
valour. The Scotic Chronicle of Ferdun supplies us 
with a letter written in the reign of Edward III, by Don- 
ald O'Neill, king of Ulster, and, as he proudly says "right- 
ful heir to the monarchy of all Ireland," and addressed to 
the Pope John XXII, and a more impressive and elo- 
quent document will scarcely be found in the pages of 
history, indicating a degree of high and refined feel- 
ing that could not be surpassed, if it could be equaled, 
in the court of Edward. It is a history of English rule in 
Ireland from the beginning, told with grave and earnest 
simplicity, but in language the most eloquent and grace- 
ful. There is little evidence in it of that perennial bar- 
barism which Hume attributes to the chiefs and people 
of Ireland. 

The deteriorations which took place has been attributed 
to many causes, but however that degeneracy was pro- 
duced, it was signally accelerated by the arrival of the 
anglo Normans. They came like " ravening wolves and 
more cunning than foxes;" they drove the inhabitants 
from their houses and their lands, " to seek shelter like 
wild beasts in the woods, marshes, and caves; " they 
sought out the miserable natives even in those dreary 
shades; they seized on the noble endowments of the 
church, and destroyed the buildings devoted to piety and 
education. O'Neill pathetically laments that by the in- 
tercourse of the Irish with the English, his countrymen 
had lost the fine features of the national character, "for," 
he says in his letter to the Pope, " instead of being like 



COMPARISON OF THE ENGLISH AND IRISH EACES. 81 

our ancestors, simple and candid, we have become as art- 
ful and designing- as themselves. " 

It must be confessed that the residences of the Irish, 
contrasting strangely with the splendor of their ecclesi- 
astical architecture, were in most instances mean and 
temporary, and suited only for a loose, pastoral people. 
They were slight and composed of hurdles. But this 
is not to be taken to support the charges of barbarism 
against the nation, which are completely belied by the 
course of education, in the management of cattle, in hus- 
bandry, in navigation, and in letters, which were admin- 
istered to their youth, the early commercial dealings with 
foreign nations, and the long possession of letters. But 
the social habits in almost every country in Europe were 
of a low nature, and their standard of social comfort was 
mean. Great contrasts — noble castles, splendid edifices 
of piety, looking down upon mean structures of hurdles — 
were not unusual in England at the time of the first 
Anglo-Saxon monarchs. 

Hume sums up 

THE CHARACTER OF THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE 

and doubtless they were not much ameliorated at the 
time of Henry II, by the Norman invasion — in this man- 
ner: "■ They were in general a rude, uncultivated people, 
ignorant of letters, unskilled in the mechanic arts, un- 
tamed to submission under law and government, addicted 
to intemperance, riot and disorder. Their best quality 
was their military courage, which yet was not supported 
by discipline or conduct. Their want of fidelity to the 
prince, or to any trust reposed in them, appears strongly 
in the history of their later period. Even the Normans, 
notwithstanding the low state of the arts in their own 
country, characterize them as barbarians when they speak 
of the invasion made upon them by the Duke of Nor- 
mandy. The Normans brought with them their habits 
and their tastes, and some refinement, which was, as 
Hume says, slowly imparted to the Saxons; and the com- 
posite nation, when its adventurers first invaded Ireland, 
had achieved a certain degree of civilization. Settled 



82 CONFISCATIONS UNDER JAMES I. 

there, they made no exertion to extend this to the na- 
tives; they acted merely as needy adventurers, seeking 
to make easy fortunes, and reckless of the ruin they 
wrought in the pursuit of wealth and power. In every 
recorded case, the disasters of conquest have been fol- 
lowed by social amelioration to the conquered people. 

("I do not insist," says McNevin in his admirable work, 
c< the Confiscation of Ulster," from which the materials of 
this sketch have been largely drawn. "I do not insist 
upon the arrangement that Ireland was never conquered. 
Yet it is not possible for any English historian to fix, 
with certainty, the date of the conquest. It certainly 
was nor in 1172, not yet in 1641. It was, perhaps, in 
1800.) 

The Anglo-Norman invasion was an unrelieved and 
unatoned-for calamity to the Irish people; the invasion, 
up to the reign of James I. never having been completed, 
the policy of division, and the practices of petty and in- 
cessant warfare, were adopted from the first. Whatever 
superior civilization was enjoyed by the invaders was never 
imparted to the invaded people; he gave nothing but 
his vices to his new country. Entrenched within the 
stinted boundaries of the Pale, his only security was in 
the weakness of his " enemy," and this was effectually se- 
cured by the divisions which the native institutions of 
Tanistry and chieftainship enabled him to create 
amongst their numerous kings and princes. The social 
amelioration of the Irish nation was never thought of by 
the English adventurers ; the country was looked upon 
as so many estates, and the people as so many enemies. 
The legislation of the conquerer, the most remarkably 
cruel, ignorant, and selfish of any of which there is a 
remaining record, was carefully framed to obstruct the 
improvement of the nation. Statutes were passed to prevent 
intermarriages, and all those other social connections, 
fosterage, gossipred, etc., which the humanity of Irish 
customs taught, and which would have gradually led to 
a perfect union of the two nations. Laws were enacted 
and enforced preventing the exercise of any of the arts 
or pursuits of peace. Amongst others, Irishmen could 



CONFISCATIONS UNDER JAMES I. 83 

not enter English towns, nor trade with the inhabitants. 
It was impossible for the Irish either to improve their own 
institutions, or, assuming them to be superior, to adopt 
those of the Anglo-Normans. Their expulsion and ex- 
termination continued to be for centuries, the objects of 
government, which it sought to effect by remorseless 
cruelty, and by a policy even more cruel and relentless. 
The wars of the Pale — the statute of Kilkenny — the 
plantation of Munster and Ulster, were the very indica- 
tions of that settled polic} r . The resistance of the Irish 
was noble and continuous, but it was without plan, with- 
out unity, without any principal of concert, and it 
finally yielded to the warlike and politic genius of Lord 
Mountjoy. 

THE COMMISSIONERS AUTHORIZED BY JAMES 

in July and August, 1609, "to enquire of diverse things 
contained in said commission and articles of instruction 
thereunto annexed," were Sir Arthur Chicester, Lord 
Deputy; Henry, Lord Archbishop of Armagh; George, 
Lord Bishop of Derry; Sir Humphry Winch, Chief Jus- 
tice of the Common Pleas; Sir Thomas Ridgway, Treas- 
urer at War; Sir Oliver St. John, Master of the Ordnance; 
Sir Oliver Lambert, Sir Garrett Moore, Privy Councillors; 
Sir John Davies, Attorney General; William Parsons, 
Surveyor General. A jury of twelve men were duly 
sworn, and without any unnecessary delay, found, on the 
several inquisitions, that the Earl of Tyrowen, the Earl 
of Tyrconnell, Sir Cahir O'Doherty and others "did enter 
into rebellion, and at the time of the said entering into 
rebellion were seized in their demesne, as of fee, of," 
etc. Quick upon the finding of these inquisitions, which 
handed over to the King the ancient and princely inher- 
itances of the O'Neills and the O'Donnells, and the coun- 
tries of the O'Cahans, the Maguires, the O'Doghertys, 
the O'Reillys and a score of other ancient families — or 
it may be submitted even before the formal finding. A 
project was submitted by the Privy Council in Ireland, to 
the King and Council in England, for the division and 
plantation of the escheated lands in six several counties 



84: PLANTATION OF ULSTER. 

in Ulster, namely: Tyrowen, Coleraine (now London- 
derry), Donegal, Fermanagh, Armagh and Cavan. 

" Whereas," says a state paper of the day, " great scopes 
and extent of land in the several counties of Armagh, 
Tyrowen, Coleraine, Donegal, Fermanagh and Cavan, 
within the Province of Ulster, are escheated and come to 
our hands by the attainder of traitors and rebels, and by 
other just and lawful titles, we have heretofore caused 
several inquisitions to be taken and surveys to be made, 
which being transmitted to us, we considered with our 
Privy Council, attending our person, how much it would 
advance the welfare of that kingdom if the said land were 
planted with colonies of civil men, and well affected in 
religion" The civil men were to be English, and prin- 
cipally Scotch — those well affected in religion were, of 
course, to be Protestants — the fulfilment of which condi- 
tions would lead to the extermination of the native races 
of Ireland, which was the manifest intention. In proof 
of which, the following conditions will amply prove: 

" Articles concerning the English and Scotch under- 
takers, loho are to plant their portions with English and 
inland Scottish tenants. 

1. His majesty is pleased to grant estates in fee farm 
to them and their heirs. 

2. They shall yearly yield unto his majesty, for every 
proportion of one thousand acres, five pounds six shillings 
and eight pence English, and so rateably for the greater 
proportions, which is after the rate of six shillings and 
eight pence for every three-score English acres. But 
none of the said undertakers shall pay any rent until the 
expiration of the first two years, except the natives of Ire- 
land, who are not subject to the charge of transportation. 

3. Every undertaker of so much land as shall amount 
to the greatest proportion of two thousand acres, or there- 
abouts, shall hold the same by Knight Service in capite; 
and every undertaker of so much land as shall amount to 
the middle proportion of fifteen hundred acres, or there- 
abouts, shall hold the same by Knight Service, as of the 
Castle of Dublin; and every undertaker of so much land 
as shall amount to the least proportion of a thousand 



PLANTATION OF ULSTER. 85 

acres, or thereabouts, shall hold the same in Common 
Soccage; and there shall be no wardships upon the two 
first descents of that land.* 

4. Every undertaker of the greatest proportion of two 
thousand acres shall within two years after the date of 
his letters patent, build thereupon a Castle with a strong 
court or bawn about it, and every Undertaker of the sec- 
ond or middle proportion of fifteen hundred acres shall, 
within the same time, build a stone or brick house there- 
upon, with a strong court or bawn about it, and every 
Undertaker of the least proportion of a thousand acres, 
shall within the same time, make thereupon a strong 
court or bawn at least, and all the said Undertakers shall 
desire their tenants to build houses for themselves and 
their families near the principal castle, house or bawn, for 
their mutual defense or strength. ***** 

5. The said Undertakers, their heirs and assigns, shall 
have ready in their houses at all times a convenient store 
of armes, wherewith they may furnish a competent num- 
ber of able men for their defense, which may be viewed 
and mustered every half year, according to the manner 
of England. 

6. Every of the said Undertakers, English or Scotch, 
before the ensealing of his letters patent, shall take the 
oath of Supremacy * * * * an( j shall also conform 
themselves in religion according to his Majesty's laws. 

7. The said Undertakers, their heirs and assigns, shall 
not alien or demise their portions, or any part thereof, 
to the meer Jrish, or to such persons as will not take the 
oath, and to that end a proviso shall be inserted in their 
letters patent. 

*Knight Service was a military tenure. The Act of 12th, 
Charles II, c. 24, which gave the coup de grace to the feudal sys- 
tem, extinguished these monstrous rights of Knight Service, 
and converted all such tenures into free and common Soccage. 
Soccage was of two sorts, Free and Villein. In one the services 
are certain and honorable, in the other are certain but of a 
baser kind. Soccage was a Saxon relique of liberty. The tenant 
returned for his land fealty and a certain rent. The services 
that were base are plowing, carrying out dung, making hedges, 
and other mean but useful employments. Blackstone's Com. 
Vol. 2, p. 60. 



86 PLANTATION OF ULSTER. 

8. Every Undertaker shall, within two years after the 
date of his letters patent, plant or place a competent 
number of English or inland Scottish tenants upon his 
portion, in such manner as the Commissioner shall pre- 
scribe. 

9. Requires the residence of the Undertaker for five 
years from date of letters patent. 

10. Stipulates conditions as to the aliening their por- 
tions during the five years, but after the said five years 
they shall be at liberty to alien to all persons, except the 
meer Irish, and such persons as will not take the oath, 
(meaning Catholics.) 

11. Gives power to the Undertakers to erect manors 
and hold Courts Baron twice every year. 

12. The said Undertakers shall not demise any part of 
their lands, at will only, but shall make certain estates for 
years, for life, in tail, or in fee simple. 

13. Provides for certain fixed rents, and prohibits cut- 
tings, cocheries, and other Irish exactions upon their ten- 
ants. 

14. Exempts said Undertakers from paying any cus- 
toms or imports on any commodities growing upon their 
lands. 

The most remarkable of these orders and conditions 
are those which are aimed at what the insolence of English 
pride has always termed " meer Irishry." The Irish, in the 
above articles, are exceptions to the exemption from rent 
— on the ground that they being born to the soil, had no 
journey to make to take possession. Undertakers, those 
strange usurpers, are forbidden to demise to the " meer 
Irish," or to any tenant who will not take the oath of 
Supremacy, which was a practical exclusion of every 
Catholic. The King's tenants are allowed to alien, af- 
ter five years' possession, to any party except a Catholic 
or the " meer Irish. " 

The plantation, though it did not fulfill its origiiil 
idea — grand and abominable — of destroying an entire 
people, wrought some singular effects in the history of 
Ireland, and produced a strange influence on the fortunes 
of those kingly robbers by whom it was designed. In 



EXTERMINATION GENERALLY COUNSELED. 87 

that remarkable colony which the first Stuart planted in 
the broad estates of Irish princes, nobles and warriors, 
his wretched son and grandson encountered the most 
inveterate hostility. On the banks of a memorable river 
that ran through the old territories of Ultonia, the last of 
the Stuarts, expiated his sins against Liberty. The 
crimes of the father were visited with usurious interest 
on the head of the son. 

The leading principle of the plantation, and the main 
idea of its designers was " the avoiding of the natives, 
and the planting only with British." Such a system 
was too vicious to endure. Extermination, which Spenser 
counseled, could alone have enabled the plantation to 
work well, by a total removal of the native owners of the 
lands, but, without death or banishment, entire exclusion 
was impossible; they mingled with the new population in 
a communion of hatred and ill will, and instead of a 
great nation, the fusion of many races, they have pre- 
sented for centuries the appearance of rival factions re- 
strained, and that only occasionally by lav/, from 
attempting mutual destruction. By incessant war, and 
by the intrigues of English policy, the entire people of 
Ireland had been reduced to the lowest scale of social 
life — their lands were ravaged, the fruits of the earth 
destroyed, the villages of the peasants burned, the peas- 
antry themselves driven to the mountain fastnesses and 
the forests. The first object was to re-people the plains, 
to stud them with permanent residences, provided with 
all the necessities of civilized homes; to cluster together 
groups of habitation, where industrial association would 
in time produce commerce and create national wealth; 
and the provision given in the conditions for undertakers 
tended to procure this desired result. Though the direc- 
tions with regard to castles and bawns, were not strictly 
complied with, yet villages and towns gradually arose in 
the escheated counties; strongly protected fortresses and 
mansions sprung up on every side; houses of worship — 
not, indeed of the prescribed ancient faith of the people, 
the old inheritance of Ulster, but of new and hungry 
religionists, of discordant creeds, and schools for the 



88 HEWERS OF WOOD AND DRAWERS OF WATER. 

education of youth, were seen in most parts of the 
North. 

But all these fair promises — all these castles, churches, 
schools — all this busy hum of industry, this trade and 
manufacture, were of small avail. The exclusion of the 
natives planted a germ of destruction in the goodly enter- 
prise. Their extermination would have been a matter much 
to have been desired by English statesmen and Scotch 
adventurers. But it is not so easy to exterminate a peo- 
ple from their native soil. A milder course was adopted; 
life was awarded on the conditions of ill-paid labor and 
oppressive rents. The natives became hewers of wood 
and drawers of water, where they had once owned the 
soil and reaped for themselves its abundant fruits. Hence 
two elements were placed in continual and angry op- 
position — ownership and usurpation, embittered by diver- 
sity of language, creed and race. The first fruits were 
visible in the affair of 1641, nor, though better prospects 
now appear, have the effects of the great error of this 
plantation altogether ceased. There was no true policy 
but this — to exterminate or to consolidate; neither was 
adopted, and the result was that the plantation proved 
to be an unsuccessful experiment of reformation without 
any one ennobling act to atone for its many grievous 
wrongs, oppressions and cruelties. 

" THE SPIRIT OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION," 

says McGree, "was exhibited not only in the means taken 
to exterminate the peasantry, to destroy the northern 
chiefs, and to intimidate the Catholics of "The Pale" by 
abuse of law, but by many cruel executions. The prior of 
the famous retreat of Lough Dearg was one of the victims 
of this persecution; a priest of the name of O'Loughrane, 
who had accidentally sailed in the same ship with the 
Earls to France, was taken prisoner on his return, 
hanged and quartered. Conor O'Deveny, Bishop of 
Down and Connor, an octogenarian, suffered martyrdom 
with heroic constancy at Dublin, in 1611. Two years 
before, John, Lord of Brittas, was executed in like man- 
ner on a charge of having participated in the Catholic 



MEETING OF PARLIAMENT. 1613. 89 

demonstration which took place at Limerick on the ac- 
cession of King James. 

Very unexpectedly to the nation at large, after a lapse 
of twenty-seven years, daring which no Parliament had 
been held, writs were issued for the attendance of both 
Houses, at Dublin, on the 18th of May, 1613. The work 
of confiscation and plantation had gone on for several 
years without any sanction from the legislature. With 
all the efforts which had been made to introduce civil 
men into the country well affected in religion, it was cer- 
tain that the Catholics would return a large majority of 
the House of Commons, not only from the chief towns, 
but from the fifteen old and seventeen new counties, 
lately created. To counterbalance this majority, over 
forty boroughs, returning two members each, were created, 
by royal charter, in places thinly or not at all inhabited, 
or where towns were merely projected by the undertak- 
ers. At the elections, however, many " recusant law- 
yers" and other Catholic candidates were returned, so 
that when the day of meeting arrived one hundred and 
one Catholic representatives assembled at Dublin. The 
supporters of the government claimed one hundred and 
twenty- five votes, and six were absent, making the whole 
number 232. The Upper House consisted of fifty peers, 
of whom there were twenty-five Protestant Bishops. In 
a contest for the speakership, the House broke up in con- 
fusion, and the Lord Deputy finding the recusants reso- 
lute, prorogued the session. Both parties sent deputies 
to England to lay their complaints before the King. The 
Catholic spokesmen, Talbot and Luttrell, were received 
with a storm of reproaches, and the former committed to 
the Tower, and the latter to the Fleet Prison. They were 
shortly after released, and a compromise effected with the 
Castle party. " On the whole," says McGee, " both for 
the constitutional principles which they upheld, and the 
religious proscription which they resisted, the recusant 
minority in the Irish Parliament of James I, deserve to 
be held, in honor." Ulster being already parceled out, 
and Munster undergoing a similar manipulation at the 
hands of the new Earl of Cork, there remained a fruit- 



90 THE "DISCOVERERS" AT WORK. 

ful field for a new commission under Sir William Parsons, 
Surveyor-General, the midland counties and Connaught. 
Of these they made the most in the shortest possible space 
of time. A horde of clerkly spies were employed under 
the name of " Discoverers " to ransack old Irish tenures 
in the archives of Dublin and London, with such good 
success, that in a very short time 66,000 acres in Wick- 
low, and 385,000 in Leitrim, Longford, the Meaths, and 
Kings and Queens counties, "were found, by inquisition, 
to be vested in the Crown." The means employed by 
the commissioners, in some cases, to elicit such evidence 
as they required, were of the most revolting description. 
In the Wicklow case, courts-martial were held, before 
which unwilling witnesses were tried on the charge of 
treason, and several were actually put to death. Archer, 
one of the number, had his flesh burned with red-hot 
iron, and was placed on a gridiron over a charcoal fire, 
till he agreed to testify anything his torturers demanded 
from him. 

When, in 1623, Pope Gregory XV, granted a dispensa- 
tion for the marriage of Prince Charles to the Infanta of 
Spain, James solemnly swore to a private article of the 
marriage treaty, by which he bound himself to suspend 
the execution of the Penal Laws, to procure their repeal 
in Parliament, and to grant a toleration of Catholic wor- 
ship in private houses. But the Spanish match was un- 
expectedly broken off, whereupon Charles married Hen- 
rietta, daughter of Henry IV, king of France. 

THE PLANTATION OP JAMES I 

was a blow aimed at the extermination of the natives as 
fully in intent as the murderous campaigns of Carew and 
Gray. It was resolved to improve upon former planta- 
tions. In the past efforts to colonize, the Irish had either 
been mixed with the English, that thereby they might 
acquire their habits of civility and industry, or else they 
were driven to the woods, which at the time, skirted the 
sides of the mountains and stretched along the banks of 
every river. The fertile plains were seized upon by the 
English settlers. But this did not work well. The Irish, 



PLANTATIONS IN ULSTEK. 91 

in the woods to which they had been driven, or in the sa- 
cred gloom of their forests, brooded over their wrongs and 
planned sure and fearful vengeance. They issued from 
their retreats, destroyed the settlements, burned the 
towns, waylaid the straggling parties, and covered the 
face of the country with fire and blood. The holds of 
Norman robbery were wrapped in flames; their flocks 
were driven from the open pastures to the mountains and 
the wood, their retainers were cut off in detail by ever 
watchful natives; and often above the noises of their revel- 
ry were heard the avenging war-cries of Tryconnell and 
Tvrowen. 

It was requisite to the success of the new plantation, 
that such consequences as are described above, should be 
carefully guarded against. It would ill suit the grave 
yeoman, the thrifty trader, and the cautious' burgher, who 
were to be transplanted from the fields and towns of 
Britain, to have such neighbors in the woods. It was 
therefore prudently resolved to fix in the plains and open 
places the natives, whom the clemency of power still per- 
mitted to enjoy part in the distribution of the escheated 
lands. This was a wise resolution whether it would be 
politic to civilize or necessary to slay them. They were 
assembled under the eyes and fortresses of the new propri- 
etor, and from his square-built tower and his fortified 
bawn or courtyard, he who had despoiled might watch 
over and control them. 

The Irish tillers of the soil were admitted, but too lib- 
erally, to become tenants of the English and Scotch farm- 
ers, because they offered higher rents for lands, and ac- 
cepted smaller wages for labor. " The humane, and wise, 
and enlightened projects of the king and his counsellors 
were baffled by the want of co-operation on the part of 
the inferior agents of confiscation, and the completeness 
of the design was destroyed by the dangerous intrusion 
of the old natives." 

The project contains a statistic account of the different 
counties, not, however, accurately setting down the num- 
ber in acres in each, but onlv enumerating- the escheated 
lands available to the purposes of the planters, and ex- 



92 PLANTATIONS IN ULSTER. 

eluding unforfeited and church lands, and also excluding 
bogs, mountains, woods, lakes, and "other unprofitable 
scopes." 

That the success of the plantation, this favorite project 
of a long line of sovereigns, was, beyond doubt, a matter 
of intense interest to the English court. It so occurred 
that the division of the plunder and the conditions on 
which men held their land were not pleasing to all. The 
Scotchman preferred the Irish tenant and the Irish laborer 
to his own countryman, who was just as clever and as 
wise as himself — the English Undertaker disliked the bur- 
then of building a huge quadrangular castle with flank- 
ins: towers and immense circumambient wall. These 
dislikes begat much disobedience of the Rules and Or- 
ders; the castles and bawns were not built as intended; 
the planted ground became thickly peopled by the na- 
tives who in the plains increased as rapidly as they had 
in the woods and on the mountain side; they were grow- 
ing in the midst of their enemies a strange and alarm- 
ing presence. It was a just vengeance of nature upon 
these despoilers thus to increase the number of the Irish, 
but a cause of great perplexity and alarm to the English 
court. Commissions and superintendents were appointed, 
inquiries were directed, and reports made; the inveterate 
evil increased, the whole great plan promised arrant fail- 
ure; the fate of the Munster planters was remembered, 
and the doom of that great settlement was predicted for 
the Ulster plantation. 

"Amongst the number of inquirers who visited Ul- 
ster," continues MacNevin, " to point out the evils and to 
specify remedies, was Nicholas Pynnar, and fortunately 
for the history of the Plantation and for a better compre- 
hension of the habits and social arrangements of the day, 
his report has fully survived for our great edification. 
He was preceded by others who have left us no memorials 
or valueless ones of their labors, and it is from him that 
we are principally to learn the prospects of the Planta- 
tion at a period when it had a fair trial. He prosecuted 
his enquiry during four months at the latter end of 1618 
and beginning of 1619. Not so garrulous as Sir John 



PLANTATIONS IN ULSTER. 93 

Davies, he has told us nothing of the manner in which he 
executed his " survey." Neither is the survey itself very 
full or explanatory, but contains notices of men and things 
which are pleasurably quaint, and his brief sketches of 
the dwellings and habits of those who occupied the 
planted ground, are illustrative and informing. I have 
arranged this survey in an intelligible form, and have at- 
tached notes containing much of what Pynnar saw during 
his inquiry. I have from the Inquisition Book and the 
Patent Rolls of James and Charles, added the names of 
the attainted parties and the original patentees to his list 
of the cccupiers in 1619, so that in one view the reader is 
presented with the history of the Plantation and the Order 
established in Ulster by this remarkable revolution. In 
many instances these records gave but meagre information. 
If we had a government in Ireland, all these public docu- 
ments would be arranged, edited and illustrated with notes. 
But they are not agreeable learning for Englishmen. As 
for Pynnar he never mentions any of the former posses- 
sors; he is as silent on the subject as if an O'Neill had 
never caroused in the castle of Dungannon, or an O'Don- 
nell fought on the plains of Donegal. 

The changes of proprietorship are very numerous, the 
original patentees having in a majority of instances either 
parted with their interest entirely, or let to tenants with 
very long leases. No doubt these patentees — soldiers of 
fortune, captains, cutters and stabbers, dowagers and join- 
tresses and demireps of the court — merely grasped the 
lands of Ulster to make a good traffic by their sale; hence 
we shall find in the following list repeated transference of 
the denominations from one to another, and a varying pro- 
prietorship which must have been very fatal to the quick 
success of the Plantation. There is another set of circum- 
stances on which I regret not to have been able to throw 
any light. There are some Irish secondary chiefs who were 
attainted, but on submission restored, and others who got 
back their own lands for a valuable consideration of base 
treachery towards their fellows; and I am not able, from 
the materials I had, to discriminate between these with 
sufficient accuracy. The historic interest of the Planta- 



94 



PLANTATION OF ULSTEB. 



tion ceases at the time of Pynnar's survey; a new order 
of things was then established, and a new proprietary; 
new relations sprung up which produced their effect in 
the subsequent war of 1641, and continued even to the 
present day. 

The following table, which yet I must acknowledge is 
still very imperfect, is compiled from Pynnar's survey, 
the book of Inquisitions in the reigns of James I and 
Charles I, from the Patent Rolls in the same reigns, com- 
piled in barbarous Latin and entirely unindexed — and 
from other obscure and most unattractive sources": 

THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER. 

Being a Survey in the years 1618 and 1619 of the Lands and Settlements on the Lands 
escheated. 



I. — COUNTY CAVAN — O RETLLY S COUNTRY, 

(Formerly called Bkefni O'Reilly.) 

1. — The Precinct of Clanchie, allotted to Scotch Undertakers. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Pro- 
prietors. 



Original Pat- 
entees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



Castle Au- 

b?gnie 

Keneth 

Cachel 

Kilclogan 

Dromuck 



6 Tanregia 
Total, 



3,000 

1.000 
1.000 
1,000 

6,000 



Philip O'Reilley's 
lands escheated un- 
der Elizabeth, but 
were re-granted in 
succession to his son s 
and brothers who all 
fell in arms for their 
country. The last 
attaint took place in 
James's reign, and 
the lands went as 
herein set down in 
the Plantation. 



•Lord Aubignie 



fohn Hamilton 



1 "I 

o I Sir Jas. Hamil- 

z ! ton 

3 J 

4 John Hamilton 

5 William Hamilton 

6 William Bealie 



2. — The Precinct of Castlerachan or Castlerahan, allotted to Serv- 
itors and Natives. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Pro- 
prietors. 



Original Pat- 
entees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



ACRES. 

1 Mullagh 1,000 



2 Carvyn 

3 Murmode 

4 Loushram- 

mar, 

5 Mnckon 

6 

Total, 



1,000 

500 

1,000 
400 
900 

4.S00 



> 



Sir Thomas Ashe 



1 Sir William 

Taaffe 

2 Sir Edmund Phet- 
Tho O'Reillys. tilace 

3 Lieutenant Garth 

4 Captain Ridge way 4 Captain Culme 

5!gir John Elliot, knt 
6 Shane Mac Philip 6 Shane Mac Philip 
O'Reilly. O'Reilly 



PLANTATION OF ULSTER. 



95 



3. — The Precinct of Talloghgamj, allotted to Scotch Servitors, 



Denominations. 



Attainted Pro- 
prietors. 



Original Pat- 
entees. 



Parties in Posses 
sion 1619. 



1 Tullavin 



ACEES. 

1,500 



2 Drumsheel 750 

3 Itterryoutra 1,600 

4 Liscannor 1.000 

5 - 3,000 

2,000 

3,000 

12,250 



6 Ittei'rery 

7 Liscnrcron 

Total, 



1 CaptH. Culme 1 Captain Hugh 

Culme and Archi- 
bald Moore, Esq. 

2 Sir Thomas Ashe 2 Sir Thomas Ashe 

and John Ashe 

3 Mulmorie Mac P. 3 Mulmorie Mac P. 
O'Reilly O'Reilly 

The O'Reillys. 4 Captain Reilly 4 Captain Reilly 

5 Mulmorie Mac P. 5 Mulmorie Mac P. 
O'Reilly O'Reilly 

6 Capt. R. Tyrrell 6 Capt. Richard Tyr- 

rell and William 
Tyrrell 

7 Maurice Mac Tel- 7 Maurice Mac Tel- 
ligh ligh 



4. — The Precinct of Loghtee, allotted to English Undertakers. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Pro- 
prietors. 



Original Pat- 
entees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



1 Aghieduff 
21 Dromhill 

2 j Dromein 

4 Dromany 

5 Monaghan 



6 Clonose 



ACHES. 

1,500 

2,000 

2,000 
1.500 



2,000 



For the town 
of Belturb- 
et there 
were allot- 
ted 3S4 
7 Lisreagh 2,000 



8. Tonagh 
Total, 



1,500 

12.884 



The O'Reillys. 



1 John Taylor 
2 "I Sir R. Waldron, 9 \ Thomas Wal- 
3/ knight z J dron 

4 John Fishe 

5 Sir Hugh "Warrall. 

knight. 
Pynaar says it is 
now in Mr. Ad- 
wick' s hand s, 
though Sir Hugh 
hath it; but Py- 
naar is very dull. 

6 Sir Stephen But- 

ler, knt. 



7 Reinald Home 

8 William Snow 



7, Sir Geo. Manne- 

rynge, knt. ] 
8 Peter Ameas 



5. — The Precinct of Clonemahown, allotted to Servitors and Natives. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Propria- Origin'l Patentees. Parties in possession 
tors. 1619. 



1 Carig 

2 Tullacullen 



5 Commet 

6 Wateragh 



Total, 



ACRES. 
2,000 
1,000 

1,000 The O'Reillys. 

500 
2,000 

300 

6,800 



1 Lord Lambert 

2 Capt. Lyons; Jos. 

Jones 

3 Lieut. Atkinson; 

Lieut. Russell 

4 Capt. Fleming 

5 Mul Mac Hugh 

O'Reilly 
ft Philip Mae 
Tilrogh 



1 Lord Lambert. 

2 Ditto. 

3 Archibald Moore 

4 Captain Fleming 

5 Mul. Mac Hugh 

O'Reilly. 

6 Philip Mac Tirlogh 



96 



PLANTATION OF ULSTER. 



6. — The Precinct of Tullaghconcho allotted to Scotch Undertakers. 



Denominations. 



2,000 
1,000 



1 Carotobber \ 

2 Clontine J 

3 Clomy 



4 Drumbe- ") 

dagh y 2,000 

5 Kelagh ) 

6 Carrowndown- 

an 1,000 



Total, 



6,000 



Attainted Proprie- 
tors. 



Original Patent- 
tees. 



Parties in posses- 
sion 1619. 



The O'Eeillys. 



11 Sir Alexander 

2 J Hamilton 

3 Sir Claude Ham- 
ilton 

Alexander and 
John Augh- 
mootie 
6 John Browne 



ty 



1 \ Jane, widow to 
2/ Claude Hamilton 
3 The aforesaid Jane 

Claude's widow 
41 Sir James Craig, 

5 J knight. 

6 Archibald Acheson 



7. — The Precinct of Tallaghehagh, allotted to Servitors and 

Natives. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Proprie- 
tors. 



Original Paten- 
tees. 



1 Ballyconnell 1,500 



3 Larga 

4 



Total, 



2,000 



1,000 
1,000 



5,500 



The O'Eeillys. 



1 Captain Culme 

2 Sir K. Grimes 



3 "William Parsons 

4 OneMaguaran "a 

native" 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



1 Captain Culme and 

Walter Talbot 

2 Sir Richard and 

Sir Geo. Grimes, 
knights 

3 William Parsons 

4 Maguaran 



THE COUNTY OF FERMANAGH — MAC GUIRE 7 S COUNTRY. 

1. — The Precinct of Knockninmj, allotted to Scotch Undertakers. 



D enomin ations. 



Attainted Pro- 
prietors. 



Original Pat- 
entees. 



Parties in Posses 
sion in 1619. 



ACRES. 

1 Carowsbee, or 3,000 
Belford, i.e., 
this denomi- 
nation and 
some others, 

"in a remote 
place and out 
of all good 
way." 

2 Aghalane 1,000 

3 Dristernan 1,000 

4 Kilspenan 1,500 



5 Leytrim 

6 Deny any e 

Total, 



1,500 
1,000 

9,000 



Hugo Mac Guire, 
son of Coconnaught 
Mac Guire, was the 
Lord of Fermanagh, 
and was killed in re- 
bellion against Eliz- 
abeth. His estates 
form the subject of 
these grants. 

The secondary 
chiefs were the Mac 
Gill afinnans, Mac 
Manuses, and the 
O'Flanagans, etc. 



1 Lord Burleigh 



1 Sir James Belford, 
knight. 



2 Lady Kinkell 2 Mr Adwick 



3 James Traile 

4 Lord Mountwha- 

ny 

5 Sir John Whisher 

6 George Smel- 

hoine 



Mr Adwick 
Sir Stephen But- 
ler, knight 
Ditto 
Ditto 



PLANTATION OF ULSTER. 



97 



■The Precinct of Clancally or Clankellie, allotted to English 

Undertakers. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Proprie- 
tors. 



Original Paten- 
tees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



1 Latgar 

2 Lisrisk 

3 Clancarne 



4 Ardmagh 



1,(100 
1,000 

1,C00 



1,000 



5 Gutgoonan 1,000 
5.000 



The Mac Guires. 



1 John Sedborrow 1 John Sedborrow 

2 Thomas Flower- 2 Thomas Flower- 

dew dew 

3 Robert Boges, of 3 Edward Hatton 

Brahain, in Bran- 
cham, County of 



Suffolk 

4 Thomas Plom- 

stead 

5 Robert Calvert 



4 Sir Hugh Worrall. 
knight 
5 George Ridgeway 



3. — The Precinct of Clinawley, allotted to Servitors and Natives. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Pro- 
prietors. 



Original Pat- 
entees. 



Parties in Posses 
sion 1619. 



1 Lisgoweley 

2 Gurtin 



3 Moycrane 
Total, 



1,000 
500 



300 
2,300 



1 Sir John Davies 1 Sir John Davies 

2 Captain Harrison 2 Mrs. Harrison 
The Mac Guires. widow of Captaiu 

Harrison 

3 Peter Moystion 3 Peter Moystion 



i. — Precinct of Large and Coolemackernan, allotted to English 

Undertakers. 



Denominations. 
ACRES. 

1 Drumynshin 1,000 

2 Necarne 1,000 

3 Tullana 1,000 

4 Roseguire 1,000 

5 Dowrosse 1,000 

6 Edernagh 1,500 

7 Talmackein 1,000 

8 Bannagh- 

niore 



Total, 



1,500 
9,000 



Attainted Pro- 
prietors. 



Original Pat- 
entees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



The Mac Guires. 



1 Thomas Barton 2 \ Sir Gerard Low- 

2 Harrington Suttonl J ther, knt. 

3 John Archdale, 3 John Archdale, 

Esq. Esq. 

4 Thomas Flower- 4 Thomas Flower- 

dew dew 

5 Henry Hunings 5 Edw. Sibthorp and 

Henry Flowers, 
Esqs. 

6 Thomas Blenner- 6 Thomas Blenner- 

hassett hassett' 

7 John Thurston 7 Sir E. & T. Blen- 

nerhassett 

8 Sir Edw. Blenner- 8 Francis, son to Sir 

hassett Edward Blenner- 

hassett 



98 



PLANTATION OF ULSTER. 



5. — Precinct of Coole, and Terkennada, allotted to Servitors and 

Natir.es. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Pro- 
prietors. 



Original Pat- 
entees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



ACRFS. 

1 Cornegrarle 1,000 

2 Newporton 1,500 



3 Carick 

4 Coole 



1.000 
1,000 



5 Gabby 1,500 

6 Tempodessell 2.000 

8,000 



1 Rodolplms Gore 1 Sir William Cole 

2 Sir Henry Folliott,2 Sir Henry Folli- 
knight , afterwards ott , k night 
Lord Folliott 

2 Rodolplms Gore 3 Captain Paul Gore 
The Mac Guires. 4 Captain R. Atkin- 4. Captain Roger 
son Atkinson 

5 Com. Mac Shane 5 Con Mac Shane 

O'Neill. (Patent O'Neill 
Roll, 23 Chas. I.) 

6 Brian Maguire 6 Brian Maguire 



6.— The I 


'recinct 


of Macheroboi/ 


, allotted to Scotch Undertakers. 


Denominations. 


Attainted Proprie- 
tors. 


Original Paten- 
tees. 


Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 


1 Dromskeag' 

2 Derrinefo- 

gher 

3 Drumagh 

4 Dromcose 

5 Moyglasse 

6 Drumcro 

7 Carrynroe 


ACRFS. 
Ii 1,000 

1,500 
1.000 
1,000 

1,500 

1,1 iOO 
2.000 

9,000 


The Mac Guires. 


1 Jeremy Lyndsey 

2 Sir Robert Ham- 

ilton 

3 James Gill 

4 Alexander 

Humes 

5 William Fuller 


1 Sir William Cole 

2 Malcolme Hamil- 

ton 

3 JoIju Archdale 

4 George Humes 

5 Sir John Humes 

6 John Dunbar, Esq. 

7 Sir John Humes 



THE COUNTY OP DONEGAL, OR TYRCONNELL. 

1 . — The Precincts of Boilagh and Banagh, allotted to Scottish Un- 
dertakers. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Proprie- 
tors. 



Original Paten- 
tees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



ACRES. 

1 The Rosses 2,000 



2 Cargie 



1,000 



3 Boilagh Ontra 1,000 

4 Duneonnally 1,500 



5 Kilkeran 



1,000 



6 Ballagheitra 1.C00 



7 Moynagan 1,000 



8 Mullagha- 

vegh 1,000 



The County of 
Donegal belonged 
to the noble house 
ofO'Donnell. The 
secondary chiefs 
were O'Dogherty, 
Mac Sweeney Doe, 
Mac Sweeney Fan- 
aid, O'Gallagher, 
and O'Clery. 



1 Lady Brombe 

2 Sir Patrick Mc- 

Kay 

3 Patrick Vaux 

4 William Stewart 



5 Alexander Dun- 
bar 



6 Lady Broughton. 
In the patent 
roll this is giv- 
en to George 
Murray de 
Broughton. 



1 Captain Thomas 

Button 

2 John Murray 

3 Ditto 

4 John Murray, and 

ixncler him, Jn. 
Toodie and oth- 
ers, for years. 

5 John Murray, and 

under him to 
Richard Cogwell, 
for years 

6 John Murray 



87 Alexander Cun- 
ningham, under 
John Murray 
James McCullogh 



9,500 



PLANTATION OF ULSTER. 



99 



2. — Precinct of Portlough allotted to Scotch Undertakers. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Proprie- 
tors. 



Original Paten- 
tees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



ACRES. 

1,000 
1,000 



1 Dunboy 

2 Moyegh 

3 Decastrose and 

Portlough 2,000 

4 Dromagh, 

alias Coole- 
niactreene 1,000 

5 Coolelaghie 1,000 

6 Bally neagh 1,000 

7 Corgagh 1,000 

8*Cashell,Ketin 
and Litter- 
gul 3,000 

9 Lfsniolmogan 1,000 



Total, 



12,000 



The O'Donnells, 
O'Dogherties, etc. 



1 John Cunning- 
ham 



3 Sir James Cun- 

ningham 

4 "Sir James Cun- 

ningham must 
answer for this" 

5 Wm. Stewart 

6 A. MAwley 

7 The Laird of 

Lusse 

8 Sir J. Stewart 



9 Ditto 



1 John Cunnigham, 

gent 

2 James Cunning- 

ham, gent 

3 Sir James Cun- 

ningham 

4 Cuthbert Cunning- 

ham 

5 Wm. Stewart, 

Laird of Duhduff 

6 Alexander MAw- 

ley, alias Stewart 

7 The Laird of Lusse 

8 Sir John Stewart, 

knight 

9 Sir John Stewart, 

aforesaid 



3. — The Precinct of Liffer, allotted to English Undertakers. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Proprie- 
tors. 



Original Paten- 
tees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



ACRES. 

1 Shrami elder 1,500 

2 Aghagalla 2,000 

3 Corlackin 2,000 



4 Killeneguerd- 

on 1,000 

5 Acarine 1,500 

6 Tonafecies 2,000 

7 Drummore 

and Lurga 2,000 

8 Lismongan 1,500 

9 Monaster 1,500 

Total, 15,000 



1 Peter Benson 

2 William Wilson, 

Esq. 

3 Thomas Davis, 

3 Sir Thomas holds of his broth- 

Cornwall er Robert 

4 Captain Mansfield 

The O'Donnells. 5 Captain Russell 5 Sir John Kings- 
mill, knight 

6 Sir Robert Rem- 6 Sir Ralph Bingley 

ington 

7 Sir Maurice Bart- 7 Ditto* 

ley 

8 Sir T. Coach 8 Sir Thomas Coach, 

knight 

9 Sir William 9 Sir John Kingsmill 

Barns and Mr. Wilson 



100 



PLANTATION OF ULSTER. 



4. — The Precinct of Kilmacrenan, allotted to Servitors and Natives. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Pro- 
prietors. 



Original Pat- 
entees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



ACRES. 

1 Letterkenny 1,000 

2 Balamally 1,000 

3 Gortavaghie 1,000 



4 Edonearne 

5 Radennell 


1,000 
1,000 


6 Carnegill 

7 Moyris 

8 Ballenas 


1,000 
1,000 
1,000 


9 Ramalton 


1.000 


10 

11 " 

12 Facker 


1,000 

1,000 

172 


13 Loughnemuck 400 


14 Cranrasse 


528 



1 Captain Craiford 

2 Sir J. Kingsinill 

3 Sir W. Stewart 
Sir B. Brooke 



1 Sir George Mar- 

bruic 

2 Sir John Kings- 

mill 

3 Sir "William Stew- 

art 
Sir Basil Brooke 



The O'Donnells. 



15 Caroreagh 103 

16 Luarsiuarack 240 

17 Castledoe 500 

18 Mountmellon 2,000 

19 Leanagh and 

Corragh 2,000 

20 Caroghleagh 

ami Clomas 2,000 

21 Roindoberg 

and Carooc- 
omony 2,000 

22 Bellycanny 

and Bagh 896 



5 Sir T. Chichester 5 Sir Thomas Chi- 

chester 

6 Sir John Vaughan 6 John "VVray, Esq. 

7 Arthur Terrie 

8 Captain Henry 
Harte 

9 Sir William Stew- 
art 

10 Sir John Vaughan 

11 Captain Paul Gore 

12 Lieutenant Per- 
kins 

13 Lieutenant Ellis 13 Nathaniel Bow- 

ley ,; 

14 Lieutenant 14 Ditto 

Browne 
15) Lieutenant 15 "William Lynn 

16 J Gale 16 Ditto 

17 Sir Richard Bing-17 Captain Sandford 
ley 



9 Sir Richard Han- 
sard 



12 Lieutenant Per- 
kins 



18 Sir Mulmorie 

Mac Swyne 

19 Machoyne Bau- 

nagh 

20 TirioghBoe 

CTBoyle 

21 Donnell Mac 

Swyne Fame 



18. Sir Mulmorie 

Mac Swyne 
19 Machoyne Bau- 
n;igh 

20 Tirlogh Roe 

O'Boyle 

21 Donnell Mac 

Swyne Fame 



Total, 



21,844 



22 "Walter Mac Lou- 22 Walter Mac 
ghlin Mac Swyne Loughlin Mac 
Swyne 



COUNTY OF TYROWEN — O NEILL's COUNTRY. 

1. — The Precinct of Strabane, allotted to Scottish Undertakers. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Pro- 
prietors. 



Original Pat- 
entees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



1 Strabane 



ACRES. 
1,000 



2 Donnalonge 2,000 

3 Shean 1,500 

4 Largie, alias 

Cloghogenal 1,500 

5 Derriewoone 1,000 

6 Eden and Kil- 

liny 2,000 

7 Terremurrear- 

teth alias 
Mounterlony 1,500 

8 Newton and 

Lislappe 2,000 

9 Ball vmagh- 

negh 1,000 



The greatest por- 
tion of Tyrowen be- 
longed to the reign- 
ing family of O'Neill, 
whose chieftain was 
entitled to the usual 
duties and payments 
due to the leader of 
the clan from the 
whole of the popu- 
lation. The second- 
ary chiefs were the 
Mac Cawells, the 
O'Hagans, the O'- 
Quins, the O'Luneys 
and the O'Donnellys. 



1 Earl of Abercorne 1 The Earl of Aber- 
corne 

2 The aforesaid Earl 

3 The aforesaid Earl 

4 Sir George Hamil- 
ilton 



2 Ditto 

3 Sir Thomas Boyd 

4 Sir G. Hamilton 



5 Ditto 5 Sir George Hamil- 

ton 

6 Sir "William Stew- 6 Sir George Hamil- 

art ton 

7 James Haig 7 Sir George afore- 

said, and Sir "Wil- 
liam Stewart 

8 Sir Robert New- 

8 James Chapman cornea 

9 Sir John Drum- 

mond 



Total, 



13.500 



PLANTATION OF ULSTER. 



101 



2.— The Precinct of th* Omy, allotted to English Undertakers. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Pro- 
prietors. 



Original Pat- 
entees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion in 1619. 



ACRES. 

1 Faugh and 

Barone 3,000 

2 Brede 2,000 

3 Fentonagh 2.000 

4 Edergooleand 

Carneura- 
chan 2,030 

5 Gavel agh 

and Clonagh- 
more, alias 
Castle Dirge 
and Castle 
Curlew 2,000 



Total, 11,000 



The O'Neills. 



1 Earl of Castleha- 1 The Countess' join- 

yen ture 

2 Ditto 2 Earl Castlehaven 

3 Ditto 3 Ditto 

4 Ditto 4 Ditto 



5 Sir John Davies, 5 Sir John Davies, 
knt. lint. 



3. — The Precinct of Clogher, allotted to English Undertakers. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Pro- 
prietors. 



Original Pat- 
entees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



ACRES. 

1 Portclare and 

Ballykillgi- 

rie 2,000 

2 Thomas Court 1,000 

3 Moyener and 

Ballygalin 1,000 

4 L oughni a- 

guire 1,500 

5 Fentonagh 2,000 

6 Balle n e c o 1 e 

and Baller- 
ennally 2,000 

7 Derribard 2,000 

8 Balleneclogh 1,000 



Total, 



12,500 



The O'Neills. 



1 Lord Bidgeway 1 Lord Bidgeway 



2 George Bidgeway 

3 William Turvin 

4 Captain Edney 



2 George Bidgeway, 

gent. 

3 Sir Gerrard Low- 

ther. knt. 

4 Lord Burleigh 



5 Sir Francis Wil- 5 John Leigh, Esq. 

loughby 

6 Edward Kinsgmill 6 Sir William Stew- 

art, knt. 

7 Sir Anthony Cope 7 Sir William Cope 

8 William Parsons, 
Esq.. 



4. — Precinct of Mountjoy, allotted to Scotch Undertakers. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Pro- 
prietors. 



Original Pat- 
entees. 



Parties in Posses" 
sion 1619. 



ACRES. 

1 O'Carraghan 1,800 

2 Bevelinoutra 

and Eightra 3,500 

3 Tullylegan 1,500 

4 Tullaoge 1,000 

5 Creighballe 1,000 

6 Balleneken an 1,000 



7 Gortevill 
Total, 



1,000 
10,800 



The O'Neills. 



4 Bobert Lindsey 

5 Bichard Lindsey 

6 Eobert Stewart 



1 Sir Bobert Hey- 

burne 

2 Lord Uchiltree 

3 Captain Saunder- 

son 

4 Mrs. Lyndsey.wid- 
ow of Bobert 

5 Alexander Bich- 

ard son 

6 Andrew Stewart, 

son of Lord Uchil- 
tree 

7 David Kennedy 



102 



PLANTATION OF ULSTER. 



5. — The Precinct of Dungannon, allotted to Servitors and Natives. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Proprie- 
tors. 



Original Paten- 
tees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



ACKES. 

1 Dungannon 1,140 

2 For Dungan- 



non Town 

3 Large 

4 Ballydon- 

nelly 

5 Manor Roe 

6 Alte Besert 

7 Clanagrie 

8 Benburb 



500 
2,000 



1,000 
1,000 
1,000 

4S0 

2.000 
4,000 



Total, 



13,120 



The O'Neills and 
the O'Donnellys. 
The latter were a dis- 
tinguished branch of 
the Kinel-Owen or 
northern Hy-Niall 
race of which the 
O'Neills were the 
chiefs, and it was 
by one of them that 
the celebrated Shane, 
or John O'Neill, sur- 
named the Proud, 
and also called Don- 
ghailach. or the Don- 
nellian, was fost- 
ered. 



1 Lord Chichester. 

the Lord Deputy 

2 Lord BidgeAvay 



1 Lord Chichester, 

the Lord Deputy 

2 Lord Bidgeway 



3 Sir Toby 

field 

4 Sir Francis Boe 



Caul- 3 Sir Toby Caulfield 
4 Sir Francis Boe 



5 William Parsons 

6 Sir Francis Ans- 

ley 

7 Marshall Wing- 

field 

8 Tirlough O'Neill 



5 William Parsons 

6 Sir Francis Ansley 

7 Marshal Wing- 

field 
S Tirlough O'Neill 



COUNTY OF ARMAGH. 



1. — The Precinct of O'Neilan allotted to English Undertakers. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Proprie- 
tors. 



Original Paten- 
tees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion lGiy. 



ACRES. 

1 Donghcour- 

an 1 ,500 

2 Ballenemony 1,000 

3 ELernan 1,000 

4 Ballnevoran 2,000 

5 Derrycravy }, m 

6 Dromully, / <J ' 000 

7 Semore, 1,000 

8 Aghivillan 

andBrochus 2,000 

9 Kannagoolan 1,500 

10 Mullalellish 

and Legga- 
cory 2,000 

11 Mullbrane 1,500 



Total, 16,5000 



Armagh belonged 
to the O'Neills of the 
Fewes, the Clan- 
breasal O'Neills, and 
the O'Hanlons. 



1 William Brown- 


1 William Brown- 


low 

2 Ditto 

3 Sir Oliver St. 

John 

4 William Powell 


low 

2 Ditto 

3 Sir Oliver St. 

John 

4 Mr. Obbyns 


j?}Lord Say 


jJlMr. Cope 


7 Richard Roul- 

stone 
S John Heron 


7 Richard Roul- 

stone 

8 John Heron 


9 William Stan- 

bowe 
10 Francis Sachev- 

erill 


9 William Stan- 

bowe 
10 Francis Sachev- 
erill 


11 John Dillon 


11 John Dillon 



2. — The Precinct of the Fewes, allotted to Scotch Undertakers, 



Denominations. 



Attainted Proprie- 
tors. 



Original Paten- 
tees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1619. 



1 Coolemalish 

2 Magharien- 

trim, 

3 Kilruddan 

4 Edenash 

5 Clanearny 



Total, 



1,000 

1,000 
1,000 

500 
2,000 



5,500 



The O'Neills, etc. 



1 Henry Acheson 

2 James Craig 

3 William Law- 

ders 

4 John Hamilton 



1 Henry Acheson 

2 John Hamilton, 

Esq. 

3 Ditto 

4 Ditto 



5 Sir James Dow- 5 Archibald Ache- 
glass son 



POLICY OF JAMES CONTINUED BY CHARLES. 103 



■The Precinct of Orior, allotted to Servitors and Natives. 



Denominations. 



Attainted Proprie- 
tors. 



Original Paten- 
tees. 



Parties in Posses- 
sion 1G19. 



ACRES. 

1 Cornechiuo 500 

2 Ballemoore 1,500 



3 Ballomone- 

han 

4 Claire 



:> 

6 Curiator 

7 Camlogh 

Total, 



1.000 

2,000 



1,000 

200 

1,000 

7,200 



1 Sir JohnDavies, 

knt. 

2 Sir Oliver St. 

John 

3 Lord Moire 

The O'Neills, etc. 4 HenryBourchier 



5 Capt. Anthony 

Smith 

6 Lieutenant 

Poyns 

7 Henry M'Shane 

O'Neill 



1 Sir John Davies, 

knight 

2 Sir Oliver St. 

John 

3 Lord Moire 

4 Henry Bourchier, 

afterwards Earl 
of Bath 

5 Captain Anthony 

Smith 

6 Lieutenant Poyns 

7 Sir Toby Caulfield 



The policy inaugurated by 

JAMES WAS CONTINUED UNDER CHARLES I. 

Wentworth, the Irish Lord Lieutenant, continued the 
commission as to defective titles in Connaught. Charles, 
not receiving grants from the English parliament, hit upon 
this happy plan of fleecing the Irish. Little resistance 
was encountered. Sir Lucas Dillon, the ancestor of the 
present Viscount Dillon, who has recently acted with such 
savage cruelty towards his tenantry in Mayo, was foreman 
of the jury or commission, and was commended by Went- 
worth for his judicious findings, and amply rewarded out 
of the confiscated lands. Little resistance was made un- 
til Gal way was reached, and then the honest Wentworth 
became indignantly virtuous, but graver matters demand- 
ed his attention about this time. The parliament was in 

REVOLT AGAINST CHARLES; AND THE SCOTCH COVENANTERS 

came to his assistance, much to the dismay of Charles. 
Now surely was a splendid opportunity for the Irish 
chiefs and people, and they determined to avail them- 
selves of it. Communications were established between 
the exiled Irish officers. A fund was contributed by them 
from their scanty pay, and envoys were sent to sound the 
confederates in Ireland. Roger O'More of Leix, an Irish 
gentleman, seems to have been the leading spirit at home, 



104 THE INSURRECTION OF 1641. 

while John, son of Hugh O'Neill, and titular Earl of Ty- 
rone, was the acknowledged leader of the Irish in Europe. 
On the latter's death he was succeeded by Col. Owen 
(Roe) O'Neill, an officer of the Spanish army. The prin- 
cipal abettors of O'More in Ireland were Maguire, Lord 
of Fermanagh; Heber McMahon, Vicar of Clogher; Sir 
Phelim O'Neill, Sir Connor Magennis and Hugh Oge Mc- 
Mahon. 

The time of the rising was fixed for the 23d of Octo- 
ber, 1641, and the plan of campaign agreed upon was to 
seize on all fortresses within reach of the friends of the 
confederation; also the castle of Dublin, which at that 
time contained arms for 12,000 men. "All the details 
of the project," says McGee, " were carried into effect, 
except the seizure of Dublin Castle, the most difficult, as 
it would have been the most decisive blow to strike." 
The government of England was completely baffled "In 
one night," says A. M. Sullivan; "the people swept out 
of sight, if not from existence, every vestige of English 
rule throughout three provinces. The forts of Charle- 
mont and Mountjoy, and the town of Dungannon were 
seized on the night of the 22nd by Phelim O'Neill, or 
his lieutenants. On the next day, Sir Connor Magennis 
took Newry; the McMahons possessed tliP! towns of 
Carrick- ma- cross and Castle Blayney; the O'Hanlons, 
Tanderagee, while Roger Maguire and Philip O'Reilly 
raised Cavan and Fermanagh." Charles Gavan Duffy, in 
the most powerful ballad which he has written, thus 
expresses the feelings of the Irish nation after the 
triumph of 1641: 

"Joy! joy! the day has come at last, the day of hope and pride, 
And see! our crackling bonfires light old Bann's rejoicing- tide, 
And gladsome bell and bugle, from Newry's captured towers; 
Hark! how they tell the Saxon swine the land is ours — is ours. 

" Glory to God, my eyes have seen the ransomed fields of Down, 
My ears have drunk that cry, stout Phelim hath his own. 
Oh ! may they see and hear no more ; oh ! may they rot to clay 
When they forget the triumph in the conquest of to-day. 

44 Now, now, we'll teach the shameless Scot to purge his thievish 
maw; 



THE INSURRECTION OF 1641. 105 

Now, now, the courts must fall to prey for justice is the law; 
.Now. shall the undertaker square for once his loose accounts, 
We 11 strike, brave boys, a fair result from all his false amounts. 

''Come, trample down their robber rule.and smite their venal spawn' 
Ineir foreign laws, their foreign church, their ermine and their 

lawn, 
With all the specious fry of foreign fraud that robbed us of our 

own, 
And plant our ancient standard once again beside our lineal throne. 1 ' 

The failure to seize Dublin Castle was owing to the 
traitorous conduct of one Conolly, the only Irish traitor of 
1641, and the ancestor of the Conolly's of Donegal. 
Col. McMahon, to whom the task of seizing the castle 
was entrusted, was captured in his lodgings the night of 
the "rising," as was Lord Maguire, but O'More, and 
Plunkett and the other confederates escaped. 

The charges of cruelty brought against the Irish of 
that period, bears a striking resemblance to the Irish out- 
rages manufactured by the English press at the present 
time. There is no foundation for the accusations. The 
reply of Sir Connor Magennis to the English officers at 
Down indicates pretty thoroughly the spirit of the Irish. 
" We are " he said "-fighting for our lives and liberties. 
We desire no blood to be shed; but if you mean to shed 
our blood, be store that tee are as ready as you for that 
purpose." ^ The facts are that the English soldiery prac- 
ticed all kinds of barbarities upon the native Irish whom 
they made prisoners, and being unable to hold their own 
in, or at last to penetrate into Ulster, Munster, or 
Connaught, they wreaked vengeance on the Anglo-Catho- 
lics of the Pale.^ The noblemen and gentry protested to 
no purpose; their loyalty was unquestioned, but it prob- 
ably arose from cowardice. The revolt was hitherto con- 
fined to the Celtic portion of the people. The Saxons of 
the Pale had no more sympathy with Celtic Catholics 
than the English Catholics of the present day have with 
the Irish Catholics. Duffy, from whom we have already 
quoted, shows how little the Irish trusted the Barnwells, 
the Trimlestons, and the other loyal gentlemen of the Pale! 



106 THE INSURRECTION 'OF 1641. 

"Let Silken Howth and savage 
Slave still kiss the tyrant's rod, 

And Pale Dunsany still prefer 
His master to his God. ' ' 

"Natheless their creed they hate us still," but events 
made the gentlemen of the Pale unite with the Irish. 
The puritan soldiery not satisfied with butchering the 
peasantry and sacking their houses, occasionally ex- 
tended their courteous attentions to the nobility and 
gentry. The gentlemen who preferred and have always 
" preferred their master to their God" took alarm ; a meet- 
ing was called in some portion of the county Meath. 
Most of the Catholic noblemen of the Pale attended, and 
invitations were secretly sent by the bolder spirits to 
the insurgent leaders. O'Reilly, McMahon, Byrne and 
Fox attended, mutual explanations were made, and an 
alliance formed. The Catholic Bishops met at Kells in 
March, 1642. As a result of both meetings a general 
assembly of " the lords spiritual and temporal and the 
gentry of their party" was convoked at Kilkenny, in 
October, 1643. Eleven Bishops and fourteen lay lords 
represented the Irish peerage ; two hundred and twenty- 
six commoners, the large majority of the constituencies." 
Lord Mountgarret presided, and a supreme council of six 
members from each province was appointed to act as a 
provisional government. This council included the 
Bishops of Armagh, Tuam, Clonfert, Dublin and Down, 
and the lords Mountgarret, Roche, Gormanstown, and 
Mayo, and fifteen of the most eminent commoners. 

This body became the ruling power of Ireland and was 
most loyally obeyed by the people. "It undertook," 
says Mr. Sullivan, " all the functions properly appertain- 
ing to its high office; coined money at a national mint; 
appointed judges; sent ambassadors abroad, and com- 
missioned officers to the national army — amongst the lat- 
ter beinp- Owen Roe O'Neill. The Anolo-Irish faction in 
the confederation was too strong, and no sooner did the 
king express his desire to come to terms," than all their 
former loyalty returned. Indeed, as we have said before, 
it was not through patriotism, but cowardice, they ever 



• THE BATTLE OF BENBUEB. 10T 

united with the Irish. Dissensions soon sprang up, the 
peace-at-any-price party wanted everything their own 
way, the Irish properly refused to unite in so slavish a 
policy, and determined to fight in the " open field, fairly, 
for land and life." The Anglo-Irish lords entered into 
negotiations with Ormonde, the Lord Lieutenant, only to 
be betrayed by that astute nobleman. A truce was 
agreed upon, but not observed by the English, for " Black 
Morrouoh " O'Brien and Scotch Monroe continued their 
ravages as if there were no truce. 

Aid soon came to the Irish in the shape of money, 
arms, and munitions of war— "wine "-from the royal Pope. 
The papal nuncio, John Baptist Rinnucini came in person 
and brought $36,000, no inconsiderable sum in those 
days. Luke Wadding forwarded 2,000 muskets, 2,000 
cartouche belts, 4,000 swords, 2,000 pikeheads, 400 
brace pistols, 20,000 pounds of powder, with match, shot, 
and other stores. The nuncio, unlike some of latter date, 
took sides with the national party, repudiated all com- 
promise with the king, but the slavish party were in a 
majority and concluded peace with Ormond. The Irish 
party took the field under Owen Roe O'Neill. Monroe 
had been marauding; and massacreino-in Ulster. O'Neill 
marched to meet him at Benburb, where the English and 
Scotch forces were utterly routed on the 5th of June, 
1646. This victory gave great joy to the Irish. They 
felt that in Owen Roe they had a leader who was equal 
in strategy, and superior in prowess to any of the English 
generals. The Anglo-Irish general Preston defected to 
the English and united his forces with Inchiquin " Black 
Morrouo-h." The war from then until 

THE ADVENT OF CROMWELL 

was desultory and carried on chiefly on the Guerilla plan. 
The most infamous cruelties were practiced on the Irish 
who fell into the hands of Inchiquin, at one place twenty 
priests were dragged from under the altar by the soldiers 
and massacred in cold blood — yet such was the party 
with whom the sleek, slavish Anglo-Catholic gentry — 
the ancestors of the " base, brutal, and bloody" Whigs, as 



108 CROMWELL IN IRELAND. . 

O'Connell called them, of latter times — entered into an 
unholy alliance. Verily the people of Ireland have 
learned a lesson or two, when they regard the descend- 
ants of these men with suspicion. Let us hope the feel- 
ing will thrive and grow. 

While these things were transpiring in Ireland, 

CHARLES FLED FROM ENGLAND, 

but trusting to the loyalty of his Scotch subjects was be- 
trayed and executed. Cromwell soon quelled all opposi- 
tion in England. He then turned his attention to Ire- 
land, where, in the language of Mr. Froude, he saw need 
for a sterner and firmer policy. 

No need to enter into the sickening details of Crom- 
well's campaigns in Ireland. The untimely death of 
Owen Roe O'Neill left the Irish people without a leader, 
the treachery of the Anglo-Irish party left them without 
munitions of war. Cromwell had little to contend with. 
Massacres, butcheries, burnings, hangings and the most 
loathsome and savage cruelties became the order of the 
day. The stories of Drogheda and Wexford have often been 
told. " To hell orConnaught," is an expression graven in 
the memory of every Irishman. The expatriation of the 
Irish followers, soldiery and gentry to Europe, the banish- 
ment of women and children to starve and die and rot in 
the West Indies; Sir William Petty says that six thousand 
were thus banished, but adds that the Irish put the num- 
ber as high as 100,000. The Committee of Council voted 
one thousand girls and as many youths to be taken up 
for the purpose" of making them English and Christian 
in the West Indies. This pious proceeding was carried 
out at the request of Cromwell. As a matter of course, 
the estates of the Irish gentry and people were confis- 
cated and given to Cromwell's troopers. The most brutal 
laws were enacted to put down the Catholic religion. 
" The Parliamentary Commissioners in Dublin published 
a proclamation by which, and other edicts, any Catho- 
lic priest found in Ireland after twenty days, was guilty 
of High Treason, and liable to be hanged, drawn and 
quartered; any person harboring such clergyman was 
liable to the penalty of death and loss of goods and 



THE OATH OF SUPREMACY. 109 

chattels, and any person knowing the place of concealment 
of a priest and not disclosing it to the authorities, might 
be publicly whipped, and further punished with am- 
putation of the ears. 

"Any person absent from the parish church (protestant) 
on a Sunday was liable to a fine of thirty pence; magis- 
trates might take away the children of Catholics and send 
them to England for education, and might tender 

THE OATH OF SUPREMACY. 

"I, A B, do reject and abjure the supremacy of the 
Roman Pontiff, and assert that he has no jurisdiction 
over the Catholic church in general, or myself in particu- 
lar. I abjure the doctrine of transubstantiation, purga- 
tory, and the worship of the crucifix, or other images. I 
abjure, moreover, the doctrine which teaches that salvation 
is to be procured by good works. This I swear without 
any gloss, equivocation, or mental reservation, so help 
me God." 

"To all persons at the age of 21 years, who, on refusal, 
were liable to imprisonment during pleasure, and the for- 
feiture of two-thirds of their real and personal estates." 
"The same price of five pounds," continues Mr. Haverty, 
" was set on the head of a priest, and on that of a wolf, 
and the production of either head was a sufficient claim 
to the reward." " At an office or bureau," says Mr. A. M. 
Sullivan, " appointed by the government for the purpose, 
a lottery was held, whereat farms, houses, and estates 
from which the owners had been driven, were being 
'drawn' by or on behalf of the soldiers and officers of 
the army, and the ' adventurers ' — i. e., petty shopkeepers 
in London, and others who had lent money for the war on 
the Irish." 

This was the firm rule, the stern government, and these 
the measures which have so won the admiration of James 
Anthony Froude. 

There is little to be said in reference to the history of 
Ireland during the reign of Charles II. Many of the 
exiled Irish aided that monarch in obtaining the throne of 
his father, but the Stuarts were never remarkable for 



110 WRETCHED CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 

gratitude, and Ireland received not the slightest return 
for the services of her children. The Anglo-Irish ex- 
pected much from the new king. They were totally un- 
deceived. Whether Stuart or Tudor, Plantagenet or 
Hanoverian, Protestant or Catholic, occupied the throne 
of England was all the same to Ireland. She was scourged 
and robbed, her people libelled, her aspirations scoffed at, 
her feelings mocked. Thank God the Irish people are 
" disloyal to the heart's core." With the exception of a 
few fawning sycophants, they hate and detest England 
and its government; they are " Irishmen to the backbone 
and spinal marrow." 

The settlement of the soldiery on the lands of Ireland 
by the Parliament after the Cromwellian war, was a 
scheme of vaster proportions and more lasting effects 
than any preceding attempt which had been made by the 
English to utterly extirpate the native population. 

" In one year and a half," says Spenser, in his view 
of the state of Ireland, " they were brought to such 
wretchedness as any stony heart would have rued the 
sight of. Out of every corner of the woods and glynns 
they came forth on their hands, for their legs could not 
bear them. They looked like anatomies of death, and 
spoke like ghosts crying out of the grave; they flocked to 
a plat of watercresses as to a feast, though it afforded 
them small nourishment, and ate dead carrion, happy 
where they could find it, and soon after scraped the very 
carcasses out of the graves." Yet this " gentle poet" only 
describes this warfare, and all its attendant horrors, in 
order to recommend it for adoption by the Earl of Essex 
in the war then on foot against Hugh O'Neill; and though 
Essex did not fully carry out that ruthless plan, Lord 
Mountjoy, who succeeded him, did, by burning all the 
houses and destroying the corn and cattle, till the dead lay 
unburied in the fields in thousands. Prendergast quotes 
the following from a letter of the 'Commissioners of the 
Parliament of the Commonwealth of England for the af- 
fairs of Ireland:' 

"Dublin, 1st July, 1650. 

"Last Monday, Col. Hewson, with a considerable body 



NEW EFFOET TO PLANT ENGLISHMEN ON THE LAND. Ill 

from hence, marched into Wicklow. Col. Hewson doth 
now intend to make use of scythes and sickles that were 
sent over in 1649, with which they intend to cut down the 
corn growing- in those parts which the enemy is to live 
upon in the winter time, and thereby, for want of bread 
and cattle the Tories may be left destitute of provisions, 
and so forced to submit and quit those places." Under 
this destructive system of war, the country was becoming 
a waste, without cattle and without inhabitants. 

Towards the close of the year 1653, the island seemed 
sufficiently desolated to allow the English to occupy it. On 
the 26th of September in that year the parliament passed 
an act for the new planting of Ireland with English. The 
government reserved for themselves all the towns, all the 
church lands and tithes. They reserved also for them- 
selves the four counties of Dublin, Kildare, Carlow and 
Cork. Out of the lands and tithes thus reserved the gov- 
ernment were to satisfy public debts, private favorites, 
eminent friends of the republican cause in parliament, re- 
gicides, and the most active of the English rebels, not be- 
ing- of the armv. 

They next made ample provision for the adventurers, 
the amount granted to whom was £360,000. This they 
divided into three lots, of which £110,000 was to be sat- 
isfied in Minister, £205,000 in Leinster, and £45,000 in 
Ulster, and the moiety of ten counties was charged with 
the payment. Waterford, Limerick, and Tipperary, in 
Munster ; Meath, Westmeath, King's and Queen's coun- 
ties, in Leinster ; and Antrim, Down, and Armagh, in 
Ulster. But as it was required by the adventurer's act 
to be done by lot, a lottery was appointed be held in 
Grocer's Hall, London, for the 20th of July, 1653, where 
lots should be first drawn, in which project each adven- 
turer was to be satisfied, not exceeding the specified 
amounts in any province ; secondly, lots were to be 
drawn to ascertain in which of the ten counties each ad- 
venturer was to receive his land. And, as it was thought 
it would be a great encouragement to the adventurers 
^who were for the most part merchants and tradesmen) 
about to plant in so wild and dangerous a country, not 



112 cromweli/s plantation. 

yet subdued, to have soldiers planted near them. These 
ten counties, when surveyed, were to be divided, each 
county by baronies, into two moieties, as equally as 
might be, without dividing any barony. A lot was then 
to be drawn by the adventurer*, and by some officer op- 
pointed by the Lord General Cromwell on behalf of the 
soldiery, to ascertain which baronies in the ten counties 
the adventurers should have and which the soldiers. 

The rest of Ireland, except Connaught, was to be set 
out among: the officers and soldiers. 

Space will not permit any account of the difficulties en- 
countered, the sufferings endured by the people in the 
efforts to enforce this wholesale transplantation of a 
nation. But the whole sad and wonderful story is graph- 
ically and circumstantially told in the excellent work of 
John P. Prendergast, entitled "The Cromwellian Settle- 
ment," an edition of which has been issued in New York 
by P. M. Haverty. 



THE SUPPRESSED INDUSTRIES 

of Ireland. 



WHY HAS IRELAND NO MANUFACTURES f 

The question is frequently asked, Why has Ireland no 
manufactures? Why has she no commerce? Why has 
she always remained merely an agricultural country? 
The sea surrounds her as it surrounds the adjacent islands; 
the oceans are for her as well as for England. She has 
ninety harbors; no point of her hills or plains is more 
than fifty miles from navigable water. Her broad rivers 
are empty arteries, through which no current of national 
trade runs. In her soil are coal, copper ore, lead, zinc, 
nickel, gypsum, potters' clays, building stone, slate and 
marble. Why has she remained merely an agricultural 
country, with no income from any source but the products 
of the land which aliens have stolen? 

THE REASON WHY IRISH INDUSTRY LANGUISHES. 

It is a dry story, and it is as sad as it is dry. Ireland, 
in spite of her natural advantages, has no great manufac- 
tures because it has never been consistent with the com- 
mercial interests of her landlord — England — that she 
should have any. The English, by robbery and confis- 
cation, got possession of the land; they found it of ines- 
timable richness for cereal and pastoral purposes. It was 
convenient for them to limit the energies of the Irish 
people strictly to agriculture; they preferred to keep to 
themselves a monopoly of the markets for those manufac- 

8 (113) 



114 UNSCRUPULOUS INTERFERENCE WITH TRADE. 

tured articles producable in Ireland, which could also be 
produced in England. They did not propose to permit 
a mere dependent whom they could take by the throat to 
rise into an industrial competitor. The Irish people 
made sturdy efforts from time to time to foster their 
manufactures; but the iron hand of English legislation 
was promptly put forth to strangle each infant industry as 
it began to give signs of life. 

THE CLOTHING TRADE DISCOURAGED IN 1636. 

" There is little or no manufactures among them," wrote 
Lord Strafford in 1636, while governing Ireland for the 
English crown; "but some small beginnings toward a 
clothing trade, which I had and so should still discourage 
all I could, unless otherwise directed by His Majesty and 
their Lordships (the king's council); in regard it would 
trench not only on the clothings of England, being our 
stable commodity, so as if they should manufacture their 
own wool, which grew to very great quantities, we should 
not onty lose the profit we make now by indressing their 
wools, but his majesty lose extremely in his customs, and, 
in conclusion, it might be feared they might beat us out 
of the trade itself by underselling, which they are able to 
do." In Strafford's now quaint phrases is laid down the 
principle which has ever framed English policy toward 
Irish manufactures. This policy is easily analyzed. 

England seized the land in Ireland. By taxing it for 
all it was worth, in the form of rents, she prevented the 
people from accumulating money which could be used as 
capital to start manufactures. 

INFAMY OF ENGLAND ON THE CURRENCY AND COINAGE. 

Not content with this, she imposed upon Ireland a 
base and spurious currency which she inflated or con- 
tracted, or debased, at her will. Thus, for centuries, while 
other nations were developing industries, and extending 
trade by land and water, Ireland was deprived of cap- 
ital to begin manufactures at home, and the worthlessness 
of her currency made it undesirable for the enterprise 
of other countries to seek her shores and promote indus- 
trial barter. 



COMPOSITION OF IRISH PARLIAMENTS. 115 

In spite of the constant drain of money out of the islan d ; 
in spite, too, of the vicious and unscrupulous interference 
with the currency, some manufactures, those which the 
peculiar resources of the country rendered easiest of cul- 
tivation, appeared. The English government practically 
suppressed them. As often as they eluded the vigilance 
of the English manufacturers, and sprang up again, they 
were subjected to grievous restrictions ; and this course 
was maintained until the passage of the act of legislative 
union between Ireland and England in 1800, when it 
was stipulated that the trade of the two countries should 
be put on the same legal basis. This condition of the 
act was not carried out, for cross-channel duties were not 
abolished until 1875. To-day the laws apparently put 
no obstacle in the way of Irish manufactures; but the leg- 
islation of centuries had previously accomplished its pur- 
pose so effectually that repeal of the restraining and pro- 
hibitory statutes, was almost harmless to English inter- 
ests. 

Before entering upon the history of Irish money and 
the suppression of Irish manufactures in those early pe- 
riods, when a sure foundation could have been laid, it is 
necessary to say a word explanatory of the act of legisla- 
tive union. 

THERE WERE NOMINAL IRISH PARLIAMENTS, 

from the thirteenth century up to the close of the eigh- 
teenth. But they were merely recording agents for the 
will of the English crown. They were composed at first 
chiefly of the English colonists and their dependents; the 
natives were almost wholly excluded from them. It would 
have been impossible to prevent numbers of the Irish 
from getting in, had not the penal laws come to the res- 
cue of the government. Under these only the people 
who professed the faith prescribed by the English crown 
were eligible to membership in or to vote for members 
of the Irish Parliament. As four-fifths of the people of 
Ireland never adopted that form of faith, they were abso- 
lutely obliterated from representation, directly or indirect- 
ly. During part of the seventeenth and the whole of the 



116 PROTESTANT PATRIOTISM IN 1782. 

eighteenth century, the Irish Parliaments consisted of rep- 
resentatives of only one-fifth of the nation. This minor- 
ity, exclusively protestant, governed the country agreea- 
bly to the orders of the English crown until the time of 
Swift. 

PARLIAMENTARY INDEPENDENCE — 1782. 

A patriotic feeling then was engendered within it, and 
in 1782 Grattan induced the parliament to declare that it 
was independent of the English parliament, and had the 
sole right to make laws for Ireland. The American war 
had compelled the English crown to withdraw the reg- 
ular troops from Ireland, and permit the enrollment of 
Irish volunteers for coast defense, in case of threatened 
invasion by the French. These volunteers, 80,000 in 
number, were in sympathy with the patriot party in the 
Irish parliament, and rather than run the risk of rebellion 
the English Government consented to the independence 
of the parliament, but the volunteers were disbanded. 
For eighteen years the Irish parliament continued inde- 
pendent to the extent of originating legislation, a privi- 
lege it had not previously enjoyed. It still represented 
only one-fifth of the people; but it manifested a strong 
tendency toward repealing the penal code which dis- 
franchised the other four-fifths, and evinced so thoroughly 
enterprising a spirit in relation to Irish industry and 
manufactures that the English government determined to 
sweep it out of existence. 

A PROGRAMME OF UNBLUSHING BRIBERY 

was arranged, and £1,260,000 was expended in the pur- 
chase of members, many of whom were rewarded besides 
with titles of " nobility." It should be said in explana- 
tion of this astounding transaction that most of the 
members were English sympathizers in politics, and all in 
all religion. The Irish Parliament ceased to exist in 
1800. 

ENGLAND HAS NEVER HAD ANY MONET TO SPARE TO 
ENCOURAGE IRISH INDUSTRY. 

She has always been able to spend millions to put down 



COINAGE FOR IRELAND. 117 

insurrection and to degrade morality. Elizabeth spent 
£3,000,000 in her Irish wars; the suppression of the re- 
bellion of '98 — covering a period of about five months 
—cost the English Crown from £30,000,000 to £50,000,- 
000. To transfer the seat of legislation from Dublin to 
London, she could spend a million and a quarter pounds. 
But the government cannot loan a dollar to the Irish 
farmer, of the money stolen from him, for the occupancy 
of land stolen from his fathers — cannot spend a shilling 
reclaiming waste lands or draining bogs, and did not 
even provide a primary school for the people it robbed of 
their schools until thirty-five years ago. 

SOME REMARKS ON COINAGE EOR IRELAND BY ENGLISH 
ROYAL THIEVES. 

No chapter in the history of the relations of the two 
countries more perfectly exhibits the malice of England 
and the helplessness and misery of Ireland than that cov- 
ering the coinage. Gold and silver were used at a very 
early period among the Irish. The first coinage of English 
money did not occur until 1210, when King John caused 
pennies, half-pennies and farthings to be coined of the 
same weight as those in Ireland. In the reign of Ed- 
ward III the ounce of silver which had been previously 
cut into twenty deniers, was ordered into twenty six. In 
the reign of Henry VI brass money was thought good 
enough for Ireland. In 1465 it was ordered that all the 
gold coins struck in England during six reigns should be 
raised in value in Ireland, the "noble" from eight shil- 
lings and four pence to ten shillings, and its fractional 
parts in the same proportion — twenty per centum. In 
1467 an act was passed by which the value of the English 
silver coin was made double what it had been in the previ- 
ous reign. The result was, of course, a sudden increase in 
prices, producing general distress, and the only remedy 
supplied was a further corruption of the currency in the 
form of new base coins. In 1473 an act was passed to 
raise the value of silver still higher. In 1476 there was a 
scarcity of money; the coin was again debased, so that in 
1509 it was necessary to determine the value of coins 



118 BE ASS MONEY. 

by weighing them. When Henry VIII assumed the title 
of "Kino- of Ireland " he caused new coins to be struck in 
his honor, and, not wishing to thrust them on the people 
of England on account of their baseness, it was made a 
crime punishable with fine treble their value and imprison- 
ment, to import them from Ireland into England. Not 
content with this, he ordered 

BKASS COINED IN IRELAND, 

and, by proclamation, made it current money. Queen 
Mary improved the standard of money in England ; but 
Ireland was specifically excepted from the act, and brass 
was ordered coined for that island; in her reign, and in 
that of her two successors, over twenty-two thousand 
pounds of brass money was thrust upon Ireland. This 
shows that the oppression of Ireland by England has not 
been dictated solely by religious animosity. The relig- 
ion professed upon the English throne never made any 
difference in the English policy enforced in Ireland. 
Queen Elizabeth ordered the ounce of silver cut into sixty 
pennies; it had previously been cut into twenty. The 
Queen decreed that shillings of the value of nine pence 
in England pass for twelve pence in Ireland; and it was 
subsequently ordered that all moneys current in England 
should be considered only bullion in Ireland, without le- 
gal value as money, a new standard of base moneys being 
provided for the latter. The mixture was coined in Eng- 
land and forced upon Ireland; goods and provisions rose 
at once; the landlord did not reduce his raised rent when 
the sterling money was subsequently restored; and the 
poor tenant, upon whom the most of the burden finally fell, 
found himself compelled to pay three hundred per cent, 
more than the price he had contracted for. 

James I made a partial effort to remedy the evils pro- 
duced by the Elizabethan legislation, but in 1609 it was 
ordered that the English shilling should pass in Ireland 
for sixteen pence, and the melting of gold and silver coin 
was prohibited under severe penalty. English money 
was at this time current in Ireland and the crown desired 
to prevent any reduction of it, even for art or industrial 



PLENTY AND CHEAP CURRENCY. 119 

purposes. The twenty-shilling' piece passed for twenty- 
six shillings and eight pence. Exchange between Dublin 
and London was twenty-one shillings for fifteen. During 
the reign of Charles I, several attempts were made to de- 
range the circulating medium still more, but the English 
adventurers and tradesmen found their own pockets the 
sufferers, and their influence effected the issuance of a 
proclamation requiring all payments to be made in ster- 
ling English money; but, lest the Irish should construe 
this as an act of justice to them, the same document de- 
creed the effacement of all Irish symbols upon the coins. 
Charles II, after the restoration, granted a patent for 
twenty-one years to Sir Thomas Armstrong for coining 
copper farthings for Ireland and the circulation of all 
others was forbidden. In 1662 the king granted another 
patent to three goldsmiths for twenty-one years for coin- 
ing silver money, on condition of paying to him twelve 
pence out of every pound troy. 

In spite of all these efforts to make money " plenty and 
cheap," currency was so scarce that in 1672 several Irish 
towns struck coins of their own. The government, pre- 
ferring to keep the profitable monopoly in its own hands, 
promptly issued proclamations making the town coinage 
illegal. The day after King James arrived in Dublin 
from France he inflated the currency. English gold was 
raised twenty per cent., silver eight and one-third. This 
did not prove adequate to the necessities; he therefore 
established two mints, one in Limerick and one in Dublin , 
and coined money composed of brass and copper mixed, 
to be taken for, respectively, six pence, twelve pence and 
half a crown. This money was made legal tender for all 
debts. Brass guns were melted into coin. And most 
extraordinary inducements were offered for metal deliv- 
ered at the mint. Loans were solicited, payable on de- 
mand, with ten per cent, interest. The compound issued 
as money the people were compelled to take; any one 
who refused it was subjected to severe legal penalties. 
The coins were a curious mixture, according to Wake- 
field, of old guns, broken bells, old copper, brass and 
pewter, old kitchen utensils and the refuse of metals. 



120 wood's patent copper pennies. 

The workmen in the mint valued it at three or four pence 
the pound weight; it was legally current at any value 
the English king put upon it. When he left the coun- 
try he and his fellows carried off with them large quanti- 
ties of gold and silver, leaving the trash, over six million 
pounds of pretended " money," to their Irish victims. 

King William III made his money proclamation, of 
course; he reduced the value of King James' coins, mak- 
ing the crown and half crown pass for a penny each, and 
the shilling and six pence for a farthing. In the last 
year of his reign he reduced the price of gold and silver 
in Ireland. Queen Anne made no money for Ireland but 
" regulated " what her predecessors had made, and George 
I enjoys having roused into activity that surly lion, Dean 
Swift, by issuing the famous patent to William Wood for 
the manufacture of copper half pence and farthings for 
exclusive use in Ireland. One pound of copper was to be 
coined into two shillings and six pence; one hundred 
tons were to be issued for the first year, and twenty tons 
each succeeding year. His Majesty's share of the profits 
was fixed at eight hundred pounds per annum, and his 
comptrollers at two hundred pounds per annum. The 
loss to Ireland would have been over sixty thousand 
pounds. The Protestants in Ireland had by this time 
sufficient strength to resist so enormous a swindle; and 
their sturdy spirit was expressed by Swift in the amusing 
" Drapier's Letters." The coin in the island then was 
estimated by Primate Boulter at about four hundred 
thousand pounds. The consequence of the introduction 
of Wood's cheap copper, he apprehended would be M the 
loss of our silver and gold, to the ruin of our trade and 
manufacture, and the sinking of all our estates here." 
Boulter was leader of the English party in Ireland. He 
was anxious to have every office in Ireland filled by En- 
glishmen. He was a strenuous advocate of the penal 
code, and a "godly man" who would have sacrificed 
everything in Ireland for the maintenance of the English 
Crown, except his own private interests. Wood's half- 
pence menaced these; to this lofty motive the Irish were 
indebted for the primate's active opposition to the 
scheme. 



THE DKAPIER'S LETTERS. 121 

When Molyneux in 1698, published his statement of 
Irish political and industrial grievances, the English gov- 
ernment ordered the work burnt; but Boulter, who was 
the most influential politician in Ireland, and Swift, the 
most effective essayist in the two kingdoms, were not 
thus to be annihilated. Swift's bitter satire proved too 
much for Wood, who surrendered his patent in 1724, af- 
ter about seventeen thousand pounds had been sent over 
to Ireland. Boulter mentioned as one of his chief objec- 
tions to the half-pence that it "had a very unhappy influ- 
ence on the state of this nation by bringing on intimacies 
between Papists and Jacobites and the Whigs." Swift's 
letters actually united all classes of the people against 
the half-pence and against the king. A reward was of- 
fered for the discovery of the author of the " Fourth Let- 
ter," in which Swift stated that "government without the, 
consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery y" 
and the government instituted prosecution against the 
printer, but the grand jury refused to bring in a bill. 
The lesson was salutary, if brief; when the king ordered 
another copper coinage more than ten years later, it was 
left optional with the people to take or refuse it. The 
differences arising from the tinkering of the money con- 
tinued, however, and every expedient resorted to, being 
devised solely to benefit England, proved mischievous. 

The three ways by which money may be altered at the 
expense of the country in which it circulates, — reducing 
the weight, debasing the quality, and raising the nominal 
value, — all had been repeatedly tried, to the great profit 
of the foreign rulers of Ireland, and to the constant injury 
and demoralization of her trade and the suffocation of her 
industries. Every time the value of the money was raised, 
the debtors were robbed; every time it was lowered, the 
creditors were robbed. Credit was destroyed; for no 
man could tell when contracting a debt, what sum he 
might ultimately have to pay, and no man could afford to 
extend favors, not knowing what return he might receive. 
In Ireland, especially, credit was absolutely essential to 
the progress of the infant industries, since the capital of 
the country was small by compulsion, and the native 



122 DEBASEMENT OF THE COIN. 

gold and silver was hurried abroad to absentee proprie- 
tors. The incessant inflation and depression of the cur- 
rency and the intrinsic worthlessness of so large a portion 
of it, made credit simply impossible. No count in the 
fearful indictment which England has written for herself 
in Irish legislation is more grave, therefore, than her 
heartless alteration and corruption of Irish money. Her 
sole purpose was to enrich English tradesmen at Irish ex- 
pense; in that she succeeded, but she succeeded at the 
same time in retarding many industries in Ireland and in 
quite extinguishing others. Without a stable currency 
no man has confidence in his neighbor; without confi- 
dence, there can be no credit; without credit trade is im- 
possible; without trade manufactures languish and ex- 
pire. If Ireland be a country without industries, let the 
world place the responsibility where it belongs and let 
the motive animating that responsibility be properly un- 
derstood. 

ESTABLISHMENT OF BANKS IN IRELAND. 

There was no bank in Ireland until 1783. The first 
savings bank was opened in 1810. But the pernicious 
effects of the policy pursued for centuries by the English 
government had insinuated itself into the minds of the 
people; many who entrusted to the banks what they saved 
lost it, many more secretly hoarded their little gain. 
There is not a healthy feeling about money in Ireland to 
this day; and the land system must prevent the develop- 
ment of such a feeling while the present laws remain in 
force. The tenant knows that if, after a good season, he 
is a few pounds ahead, and puts the money in bank or 
loans it on security, his rent will be forthwith raised. He 
has no motive for thrift. He ought, rather, prefer moder- 
ate to good harvests. The savings banks make a respect- 
able showing, but their patrons are the town merchants 
and the small proprietors. Every shilling the toiling ten- 
ant can make above the meagre subsistence of his family 
is destined, not for the savings bank, but for the landlord. 
He can feel no inducement to save a shilling until the 
landlord and he are put on a just footing before the law. 



THE CULTIVATION OF FLAX. 123 

It is certainly a moderate statement that no country can 
build up a system of industries without a stable currency. 
England never permitted Ireland to have such a currency 
in the years when she might have built up manufactures. 
It is equally evident that no country which is constantly 
drained of the proceeds of its natural wealth, can accum- 
ulate capital to invest in industrial enterprise. England 
drains Ireland, through her iniquitous land system, of the 
money which, if left at home, would be used as manufac- 
turing capital. The money goes now to pay the luxur- 
ious living of Irish landlords resident in England and on 
the continent. 

THE CULTIVATION OF FLAX. 

The delicately close relation between land tenure and 
manufacturing industry in Ireland is illustrated strik- 
ingly in flax. This requires nine years rotation of 
crops. What small farmer can afford to use his soil for 
this valuable seed when he knows that he may be turned 
off his holding whenever his landlord pleases. Yet the 
linen manufacture to which the flax is essential, — the 
only Irish industry England never succeeded in killing, — 
is the largest and most profitable in Ireland. If it has 
striven so sturdily under such disadvantageous circum- 
stances, what might it not become, with Ireland's im- 
mense water power and abundant and cheap labor, were 
the general cultivation of flax made possible by fixity of 
tenure or a peasant proprietary? 

THE LINEN AND WOOLEN INDUSTKIES 

are probably the oldest in Ireland. They had reached 
extensive proportions when the English invasion occurred, 
both were exported in the fifteenth century. The woolen 
trade of England grew jealous of the Irish manufacturers 
who, as already shown by Strafibrd's letter, were able to 
undersell the English traders; and the suppression of the 
manufacture of wool was deliberately planned in Eng- 
land. In the early part of the seventeenth century, the 
exportation of wool from Ireland was absolutely prohib- 
ited. This was a severe blow upon Irish industry; its 



124: IRISH THRIFT REBUKED AND DISREGARDED. 

effect was not limited to a diminution of the manufacture 
itself; the moral consequence was deeper and more ex- 
tensive than the material. Irish thrift felt that it was re- 
buked and discouraged. Irish industry recognized that 
it had no place under English rule. The prohibition was, 
in fact, an official notice from the English crown to the 
Irish people that they must not engage in manufacture, 
and that if they did, the profits of their enterprise should 
cross the channel, or the enterprise itself should be sup- 
pressed. The woolen trade was revived somewhat by 
the home demand; and as soon as this was discovered by 
the English manufacturers, fresh legislation was procured 
to suppress it absolutely, so that the English manufactu- 
rers might have Ireland for their own exclusive market. 
This was actually done, so far as legislation could do it, 
by imposing enormous duties upon the manufactured 
goods. Before the prohibition of the export, the value 
and dimension of the Irish woolen trade may be judged 
from Dean Swift's statement that foreign silver was the 
current money in Ireland, and that a man could hardly re- 
ceive a hundred pounds without finding in it the coin of 
all the northern powers. The jealousy of the English 
weavers cut Ireland off from the northern trade. The 
result was not confined either to Ireland or England. 

Many of the Irish manufacturers, whose business was 
thus destroyed, left their Irish debts unpaid, adding thus 
to the misery of ,the poor, and went to France, Spain and 
the Netherlands. The woolen manufacture in France 
rose upon the ruin of that in Ireland. The ruin was prac- 
tically complete. The restrictions were relaxed when 
English jealousy no longer needed their enforcement. 
The official returns laid before the. House of Commons in 
1875, showed that there are in the United Kingdom 1,800 
woolen factories; of these but 60 are in Ireland, giving 
employment to only 1,506 persons. A recent number of 
the Pall Mall Gazette, speaking of Irish woolen manu- 
facture, admits that " its growth has been stunted by 
nearly 350 years of legislative restrictions and prohibito- 
ry tariffs." 

Had the woolen trade, for whose cultivation Ireland 



WOOLEN AND COTTON MANUFACTURES. 125 

was so well fitted and so well inclined, been permitted to 
exist, many other industries would/have thriven with it; 
but its suppression discouraged the spirit of industry and 
even artificial stimulants failed to make very profitable 
the English capital invested for a time in Irish linen; for 
as soon as the English linen manufacturers detected 
Irish competition in foreign markets, restrictions were 
laid on that industry also. It can never exceed its pres- 
ent insignificant size until the ownership of the land 
makes the flax culture safe; indeed, it has of late years 
been declining. It is almost needless to speak of the 

MANUFACTURE OF COTTON IN IRELAND. 

There were eight factories in 1875; in 1879 they de- 
clined to six; in 1871 there were fourteen. The manu- 
facture of cotton was introduced into Ireland in 1777, as 
a means of employment for the children in the Belfast 
poor house. Many persons who had been earning their 
bread in the woolen trade were out of employment, and 
to use their labor the experiment was extended. It was 
consistent with English interest to encourage it for a time, 
and it prospered so well that Wakefield speaks of it in 
1812 as " now fully established in Ireland, " and holding 
out u strong hopes of success and prosperity. " It even 
lent to some parts of the country " an appearance of su- 
perior opulence and industry." But during the war with 
America in 1812-1815, the English cotton trade was so 
affected that the Irish production of that article became 
intolerable. It was therefore practically annihilated in 
1816, and to-day, after so long an interval, it amounts to 
little or nothing, only eight factories being reported in 
1875, employing about 3,000 persons. Other minor in- 
dustries, such as worsted, shoddy, hemp, jute, hair, silk, 
and hosiery, have grown a little during the present 
century; they are at present in a state of decay. The 
money that would maintain them until they could main- 
tain themselves, is drawn out of the country. Lace-mak- 
ing, which at one time was quite a prominent industry, 
has almost disappeared. 



126 THE CATTLE-TRADE. 

THE CATTLE-TRADE IN IRELAND 

is one of the oldest of her industries. Its history is that 
of all the rest. When consistent with English interests, 
it was tolerated; when profitable to England, it was en- 
couraged; when inconvenient for English cattle-raisers, 
it was restricted. In the middle of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, it was very prosperous. In 1663 England suffered 
from the contraction and depression of foreign war. It 
was necessary to resort to some means to improve the 
spirits of the commercial classes, and an act was passed, 
entitled " For the encouragement of trade," prohibiting 
the exportation of live stock from Ireland. The Irish 
graziers tried to repair the injury done them by killing 
the animals and exporting the meat salted. This was 
promptly rebuked. In 1665 an act was passed prohibit- 
ing the export of cattle, " dead or alive, fat or lean." 
And just here an episode is recalled upon which every 
man may make his own comment. The great fire of 
London occurred in 1666. The plague had done its aw- 
ful work during the previous year. Great destitution 
ensued among the English poor. Notwithstanding the 
brutal disposition England had displayed toward Ireland 
the Irish people were touched by English distress. They 
had no money to send; their textile industries were 
languishing in obedience to English prohibition. Al 
they had to spare was cattle, and a large supply of these 
was kindly sent over to help feed the famishing. The gift 
was greedily enough consumed; but, instead of being 
acknowledged as both its substantial value and the spirit 
that sent it should have been, it was loudly denounced — 
after being eaten — as "a political continuance to 
defeat the prohibition of Irish cattle." When an 
attempt was subsequently made to procure a repeal of 
the prohibition, the King himself was induced to listen 
to the prayers of the Irish graziers; but the English 
Parliament stolidly refused, the Commons characterized 
the Irish cattle trade as " a nuisance," and the more 
dignified lords pronounced it " a detriment and mischief." 
At one time Ireland had some manufactories for produc- 



THE WATER-POWER OF IRELAND. 127 

ing glass. Statutes were enacted prohibiting the expor- 
tation of the article from Ireland, or its importation from 
any country but England. 

Perhaps it may be suggested that the timber in Ireland 
having disappeared and the coal being deficient in quan- 
tity and inferior in quality, Ireland could not have become 
a great manufacturing country even if English legislation 
had not been malicious. It is sufficient to allude to her 
immense water power which her people have been pre- 
vented from utilizing; and to add that English coals have 
always been cheaper in Dublin and at other manufactur- 
ing points in Ireland than in London. Friendly legisla- 
tion — indeed, no legislation — would have enabled Ireland 
to take a very respectable place among manufacturers; 
and, but for English legislation, the Irish farmer would 
have been able to exchange at home the produce of the 
soil for clothing and other necessaries. During the fam- 
ine year of '47, more than enough grain was raised in 
Ireland to feed all her people. It had to be sent out of 
the country, partly because the land that produced it was 
held chiefly by the heirs of the original robbers; and 
partly because the Irish farmers who had anything to sell 
were compelled to sell it abroad in order to procure the 
manufactured articles they needed, most of which could 
have been manufactured in Ireland had English lejnsla- 
tion permitted. 

In a word, English legislation, by vesting in aliens the 
land seized by robbery and confiscation ; and by suppress- 
ing Irish industries, has made poverty in Ireland compul- 
sory ; has made periodical famine in Ireland certain ; and 
and there will be no remedy for these evils until the land 
of Ireland is restored to the people of Ireland, and until 
an Irish legislature has the chance to make the laws to 
build up Irish manufactures. History furnishes no in- 
stance of one nation developing the industrial resources 
of another. If Ireland is ever to arise from her present 
depression, it will be the result of her own independent 
efforts, untrammeled from a foreign legislature, and hav- 
ing no object in view but the material and moral benefit 
of her own people. The Irish-Americans in the United 



128 POVERTY IN IRELAND IS COMPULSORY. 

States have sent $65,000,000 to Ireland in twenty years. 
All this is a tax levied upon the people of the United 
States to support English mis-rule and Irish ruin in Ire- 
land. It is, therefore, the interest of the United States 
as well as of Ireland that England should cease to make 
laws for Ireland and collect in the United States the tax 
to enforce them. 



PENAL LAWS. 



" By the treaty of Limerick, the Irish catholic people 
stipulated for and obtained the pledge of "the faith and 
honor " of the English crown, for the equal protection by 
law of their properties and their liberties with all other 
subjects — and in particular for the free and unfettered ex- 
ercise of their religion. The Irish in every respect per- 
formed with scrupulous accuracy the stipulations on their 
part of the Treaty of Limerick. That treaty was totally 
violated by the British Government the moment it was 
perfectly safe to violate it. That violation was perpe- 
trated by the enactment of a code of the most dexterous 
but atrocious severity that ever stained the annals of leg- 
islation. Let me select a few instances of the barbarity 
with which the Treaty of Limerick was violated, under 
these heads: 

First — PROPERTY. 

Every Catholic was, by act of Parliament, deprived of 
the power of settling a jointure on any Catholic wife > or 
charging his lands with any provision for his daughters, or 
disposing by will of his landed property. On his death 
the law divided his lands equally amongst his sons. 

All the relations of private life w T ere thus violated. If 
the wife of a Catholic declared herself a Protestant, the 
law enabled her not only to compel her husband to give 
her a separate maintenance, but to transfer to her the 
custody and guardianship of all the children. 

Thus the wife was encouraged and empowered success- 
fully to rebel against her husband. 

If the eldest son of a Catholic father at any age, how- 
9 (129) 



130 VIOLATION OF THE TREATY OF LIMERICK. 

ever young, declared himself a Protestant, he thereby 
made his* father a tenant for life, deprived the father of 
all power to sell or dispose of his estate, and such Protes- 
tant son became entitled to an absolute dominion and 
ownership of the estate. 

Thus the eldest son was encouraged, and indeed, 
bribed by the law to rebel against his father. 

If any other child beside the eldest son declared itself, 
at any age, a Protestant, such child at once escaped the 
control of its father and was entitled to a maintenance 
out of the father's property. 

Thus the law encouraged every child to rebel against 
its father. 

If any Catholic purchased for money any estate in 
land, any Protestant was empowered by law to take away 
that estate from the Catholic, and to enjoy it without pay- 
ing one shilling of the purchase money. 

This was English law in Ireland. The Catholic paid 
the money, whereupon the Protestant took the estate and 
the Catholic lost both money and estate. 

If any Catholic got an estate in land by marriage, by 
the gift or by the will of a relation or friend, any Pro- 
testant could by law take the estate from the Catholic 
and enjoy it himself. 

If any Catholic took a lease of a farm of land as tenant 
at a rent for a life or lives, or for any longer term than 
thirty-one years, any Protestant could by law take the 
farm from the Catholic, and enjoy the benefit of the lease. 

If any Catholic took a farm by lease for a term not ex- 
ceeding thirty-one years, as he might still by law have 
done, and by his labor and industry raised the value of 
the land, so as to yield a profit equal to one-third of the 
rent, any Protestant might then by law evict the Catholic 
and enjoy for the residue of the term the fruit of the labor 
and industry of the Catholic. 

If any Catholic had a horse worth more than five pounds, 
any Protestant tendering five pounds to the Catholic 
owner, was by law entitled to take the horse, though worth 
fifty or one hundred pounds, and to keep it as his own. 

If any Catholic, being the owner of a horse worth more 



THE PENAL LAW'S. . 13] 

than five pounds, concealed his horse from any Protestant, 
the Catholic, for the crime of concealing his own horse, 
was liable to be punished by an imprisonment of three 
months, and a fine of three times the value of the horse, 
whatever that mishit be. 

So much for the laws regulating, by act of parliament, 
the property — or rather plundering by due course of law 
the property — of the Catholic. 

I notice 

Secondly — education. 

If a Catholic kept a school, or taught any person, Pro- 
testant or Catholic, any species of literature or science, 
such teacher was, for the crime of teaching, punishable by 
law by banishment, and if he returned from banishment 
he was subject to be hanged as a felon. 

If a Catholic, whether a child or adult, attended, in 
Ireland, a school kept by a Catholic, or wrs privately in- 
structed by a Catholic, such Catholic although a child in 
its early infancy, incurred a forfeiture of all its property, 
present or future. 

If a Catholic child, however young, was sent to a for- 
eign countrv for education, such infant child incurred a 
similar penalty— that is, a forfeiture of all right to property, 
present or prospective. 

If any person in Ireland made any remittance of money 
or goods for the maintenance of any Irish child educated 
in a foreign country, such person incurred a similar for- 
feiture. 

Thirdly — peesoxal disabilities. 

The law rendered every Catholic incapable of holding 
a commission in the army or navy, or even to be a pri- 
vate soldier, unless he solemnly abjured his religion. 

The law rendered every Catholic incapable of holding 
any office whatsoever of honor or emolument in the State. 
The exclusion was universal. 

A Catholic had no legal protection for life or liberty. 
He could not be a Judge, Grand Juror, Sheriff, Sub-sher- 
iff, Master in Chancery, Six Clerk, Barrister, Attorney, 



^32 THE PENAL LAWS. 

Agent or Solicitor, or Seneschal of any manor, or even 
gamekeeper to a private gentleman. 

A Catholic could not be a member of any corporation, 
and Catholics were precluded by law from residence in 
some corporate towns. 

Catholics were deprived of all right of voting for mem- 
bers of the Commons House of Parliament. 

Catholic Peers were deprived of their right to sit or 
vote in the House of Lords. 

Almost all these personal disabilities were equally en- 
forced by law against any Protestant who married a Cath- 
olic wife, or whose child was educated as a Catholic, al- 
though against his consent. 

Fourthly — ueligion. 

To teach the Catholic religion was a transportable 
felony; to convert a Protestant to the Catholic faith was 
a capital offense, punishable as an act of treason. 

To be a Catholic Archbishop or Bishop, or exercise any 
ecclesiastical jurisdiction whatsoever in the Catholic 
church in Ireland, was punishable by transportation ; — to 
return from such transportation was an act of high trea- 
son, punishable by being hanged, disembowelled alive, and 
afterwards quartered. 

After this enumeration, will you, Illustrious Lady, be 
pleased to recollect that each and- every of these laws, 
was a palpable and direct violation of a solemn treaty 
to which the faith and honor of the British Crown was 
ipledged, and the justice of the English nation unequivo- 
cally engaged? 

There never yet was such a horrible code of persecu- 
tion invented — so cruel, so cold-blooded, calculating, ema- 
ciating, universal as this legislation, which the Irish-Or- 
ange faction, the Shaws, the Lefrbys, the Verners of the 
day did invent and enact, a code exalted to the utmost 
height of infamy, by the fact, that it was enacted in the 
basest violation of a solemn engagement and deliberate 
treaty. It is not possible for me to describe that code in 
adequate language ; it almost surpassed the eloquence of 
Burke to do so. " It had." as Burke described it — " it 



IGNORANCE ENFORCED BY STATUTE. 133 

had a vicious perfection — it was a complete system, full 
of coherence and consistency; well-digested and well- 
disposed in all its parts. It was a machine of wise and 
elaborate contrivance, and well fitted for the oppression, 
impoverishment and degredation of a people, and the de- 
basement in them of human nature itself, as ever pro- 
ceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man. 

This code prevented the accumulation of property, and 
punished industry as a crime. Was there ever such leg- 
islation in any other country, Christian or Pagan? But 
this is not all; because the party who inflicted this hor- 
rible code, actually reproached the Irish people with will- 
ful and squalid poverty. 

This code enforced ignorance by statute law, and pun- 
ished the acquisition of knowledge as felony. Is this 
credible? Yet it is true. But that is not all; for the 
party that thus persecuted learning, reproached and still 
reproach the Irish people with ignorance" The above 
brief and incomplete epitome of this shameful Draconian 
code of English legislation for Ireland is taken from a 
Memoir on Ireland, Native and Saxon, by Daniel O'Con- 
nell, M. P., humbly inscribed to her Most Gracious 
Majesty, the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Feb. 
1st, 1843. 

For a few years after the Treaty of Limerick had been 
solemnly ratified, Sarsfield, with the bulk of his army hav- 
ing entered into the service of France, the Irish enjoyed a 
season of comparative quiet, prosperity and peace. There 
was a tacit toleration of Catholic worship, though it was 
against the law; priests were not hunted, though by law 
they were felons; and for a short time it appeared as 
though the Protestant party would content itself with the 
forfeiture of the rich estates of the exiles, and the exclu- 
sion of Catholics from the professions, public offices, 
trades and guilds of trades, and from the corporate bod- 
ies of the towns. This was the extent of the toleration 
accorded to the prescribed Catholics in the early years 
of William's reign. Though they were not debarred by 
express statute from sitting or voting in Parliament, it 
was enacted that " no Catholic shall be entitled to vote at 



134 THE CATHOLICS DISABMED. 

the election of any member to serve in Parliament as a 
knight, citizen, or burger; or at the election of any mag- 
istrate for any city or any town corporate, any statute, 
law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding." Not only 
did William give his royal sanction to the laws of exclu- 
sion made by his Parliament of 1692, but he did not make 
any proposal or any effort to gain for the Irish Catholics 
those further securities " as engaged by the Treaty of 
Limerick, which were intended to protect from all dis- 
turbance in the free exercise of their religion." Yet this 
was but a trifling matter in comparison to the acts 
he gave effect to in the following Parliament, which was 
convened in 1695. One of the first enactments of this 
Parliament is entitled " An Act for the better securing the 
Government by disarming the Papists." "By this act," 
says Mitchel, in his History of Ireland, p. 14, " All Cath- 
olics within the Kingdom of Ireland were required to dis- 
cover and deliver up by a certain day, to the justices or 
civil officers, all their arms and ammunition. After that 
day search might be made in their houses for concealed 
arms and ammunition, and any two justices, or a mayor 
or sheriff, might grant the search-warrant, and compel 
any Catholic suspected of having concealed arms, etc., to 
appear before them and answer under oath " (7th William 
III, c. 5.) The punishments were to be fine and impris- 
onment, or at the discretion of the court, the pillory and 
whipping. It is impossible to describe the minute and 
curious tyranny to which this Statute gave rise in every 
parish of the island. Especially in districts where there 
was an armed yeomanry exclusively Protestant, it fared 
ill with any Catholic who fell, for any reason, under the 
displeasure of his formidable neighbors. Any pretext 
was sufficient for pointing him out to suspicion. Any 
neighboring magistrate might visit him at any hour of the 
night, and search his bed for arms. No Papist was safe 
from suspicion who had any money to pay in fines; and 
woe to the Papist who had a handsome daughter." This 
enactment, under various new forms and names, is, and 
has been the law in Ireland from that day to the present 
time. 



WILLIAM'S BREACH OF FAITH. 135 

"It would be difficult to imagine any method of de- 
grading human nature more effectual than the prohibi- 
tion of arms; but this Parliament resolved to employ 
still another way. This was to prohibit education. 
"King William was all this time busily engaged in carry- 
ing on the war against Louis XIV, and his mind was 
profoundly occupied about the destinies of Europe. He 
seems to have definitively given up Ireland, to be dealt 
with by the Ascendency party at its pleasure. Yet he had 
received the benefit of the capitulation of Limerick ; he 
had engaged his royal faith to its observance ; he had 
further engaged that he would endeavor to procure said 
Roman Catholics such further security as might preserve 
them from anv disturbance on account of their religion. 
And he not only did not endeavor to procure any such 
further security, but he gave his royal assent to every 
one of those acts of Parliament, carefully depriving them 
of such securities as they had, and opposing new and 
grievous oppressions upon the account of their said re- 
ligion." 

" It is expressly on account of this shameful breach of 
faith on the part of the King that Orange squires and 
gentlemen, from that day to this, have been enthusiasti- 
cally toasting 'the glorious, pious and immortal memory 
of the great and good King William.' " 

In the meantime Sarsfield and the " Irish Brigade, in 
the service of France, were winning glory and fame, and 
multitudes of young Irishmen were quitting their own 
land, where they were regarded as strangers and treated 
as outlaws, to find under the banners of France, Austria 
and Spain opportunities for obtaining distinction they 
could not hope to win on their own soil. The Abbe MaG 
Geoghegan, who was chaplain of the Irish Brigade in 
France, from researches made in the French War De- 
partment, shows that from the arrival of the Irish troops 
in France, in 1691 to the year 1745, the year of Fonte- 
noy, more than four hundred and fifty thousand Irishmen 
died in the service of France alone." 

" The statement," says Mitchel, " may seem almost 
incredible, especially as Spain and Austria had also their 



136 THE IRISH EXILES SEEK MILITARY SERVICE. 

share of our military exiles; but, certain it is, the expa- 
triation of the very best and choicest of the Irish people 
was now on a very large scale; and the remaining- popu- 
lation, deprived of their natural chiefs, became still more 
helpless in the hands of their enemies." 

From the. time of the Munster plantation by Elizabeth, 
numerous exiles had taken service in the Spanish army. 
There were Irish regiments serving in the low countries. 
The Prince of Orange declared these were born soldiers; 
and Henry IV, of France, publicly called Hugh O'Neill, 
the third soldier of the age, and he said there was no na- 
tion made better troops than the Irish when well drilled. 
Sir John Norris, who had served in many countries, said 
he knew no nation where there was so few fools or cow- 
ards. Agents from the King of Spain, King of Poland, 
and the Prince de Conde, were now contending for the 
services of Irish troops. Don Rickard White, in May 
1652, shipped 7,000 batches from Waterford, Kinsale, 
Galway, Limerick, and Bantry, for the King of Spain. 
Col. Christopher Mays got liberty in September, 1652, to 
beat his drum to raise 3,000 for the same King. Lord 
Muskerry took 5,000 to the King of Poland. In July, 
1654, 3,500, commanded by Col. Edward Dwyer, went 
to serve the Prince de Conde. Sir Walter Dungan and 
others got liberty to beat their drums in different garri- 
sons to a rallying of their men that laid down their arms 
in order to a rendezvous, and to depart for Spain. They 
got permission to march their men together to the differ- 
ent ports, their pipers playing " Ha til, Ha til, Ha til, me 
trelidh." — We return no more, we return no more. " It 
is the same tune with which departing Highlanders usu- 
ally bid farewell to their native shores. Between 1651 
and 1654, thirty-four thousand (of whom few ever saw 
their loved native land again) were transported to foreign 
parts." Prendergast, pp. 76-9; who also quotes Sir W. 
Petty's " Political Anatomy," published in 1672. "The 
chiefest and eminentest of the nobility and many of the 
gentry have taken conditions from the King of Spain, 
and have transported 40,000 of the most active spirited 
men, most acquainted with the dangers and discipline of 



THE POPERY LAWS CAUSE DEEP DISTRESS. 137 

Matthew O'Connor, commenting on the Irish people's 
sufferings from the effects of the Penal Laws, gives the 
following mournful account, an account the truthfulnes 
of which is fully confirmed by other veracious historians. 

" The Popery laws had, in the course of half a century, 
consummated the ruin of the lower orders. Their habi- 
tations, visages, dress and despondency exhibited the deep 
distress of a people ruled with the iron sceptre of con- 
quest. The lot of the negro slave compared with that of 
the Irish helot was happiness itself. Both were subject 
to the capricious cruelty of mercenary task-masters and 
unfeeling proprietors ; but the negro slave was well fed, 
well clothed and comfortably lodged. The Irish peasant 
was half starved, half naked and half housed — the canopy 
of heaven being often the only roof to the mud-built walls 
of his cabin. The fewness of negroes gave the West In- 
dia proprietor an interest in the preservation of his slave; 
a superabundance of helots superseded all interest in the 
comfort or preservation of the Irish cottier. The code 
had ^eradicated every feeling. of humanity, and avarice 
sought to stifle every sense of justice. That avarice was 
generated by prodigality, the hereditary vice of the Irish 
gentry, and manifested itself in exhorbitant rack-rent 
wrung from their tenantry, and in the low wages paid for 
their labor. Since the days of King William, the price 
of the necessaries of life had treble.d, and the day's hire — 
fourpence — had continued stationary. 

u The oppression of tithes was little inferior to the tyran- 
ny of rack-rents; while the great landholder was nearly 
exempt from the pressure, a tenth of the produce of the 
cottier's labor was exacted for the purposes of a religious 
establishment from which he derived no benefit. . . . The 
peasant had no resource: not trade or manufactures — 
they were discouraged; not emigration to France — the 
vigilance of the government precluded foreign enlist- 
ment; not emigration to America — his poverty precluded 
the means. Ireland, the land of' his birth, became his 
prison, where he counted the days of his misery in the 
deepest despondency." 

Is it to be wondered at that conspiracies, secret associ- 



138 PERSONS OF THE FIVE BLOODS. 

ations and insurrections were the result; or should the 
wonder be that such commotions were less universal and 
prolonged? But what can a disarmed, impoverished 
people effect of themselves alone? 

Sir John Davies, who was for many years Attorney- 
General in Ireland, to that pragmatical and despicable 
tyrant, James the First, has been quoted several times in 
this work as an undoubted authority, as he must be al- 
lowed to be, as to the mode in which the conqueror disposed 
of the country and treated the people. In his Historical 
Relations, Davies says:' "All Ireland was by Henry II 
cantonized among ten of the English nation, namely: Earl 
of Pembroke, or Strongbow, Robert Fitz Stephens, Miles 
de Cogan, Philip Bruce, Sir Hugh De Lacey, Sir John 
de Courcey, William Burke, Fitz Andelm, Sir Thomas de 
Clare, Otho de Grandison, and Robert le Poer, and though 
they had gained possession of but one- third of the King- 
dom, yet in title they were owners andf lords of all, so as 
nothing was left to be granted to the natives ! !" Henry 
afterwards granted a special charter, conceding the bene- 
fit of the English laws to five Irish families. They were 
called in pleading, "persons of the five bloods," de quin- 
que sanquinibiis. 

"These were the O'Neills, of Ulster; O'Melachlins, of 
Meath; the O'Connors, of Connaught; the O'Briens, of 
Thomond, and the McMurroughs of Leinster." — [Davies' 
Hist. Rel., p. 45. 

" That the Irish were reputed aliens, appeareth by sun- 
dry records, wherein judgments are demanded, if they 
shall be answered in actions brought by them." Sir John 
Davies, in his Historical Tracts, p. 78, relates: 

" In the Common Plea Rolls, of 28 Edw. Ill, (which 
are yet preserved in the castle of Dublin) this case is ad- 
judged. Simon Neale brought an action against Wil- 
liam Newburgh for breaking his close in Clondalkin 
Co. Dublin: defendant doth plead that the plaintiff is 
Tlibemicus et non de quinque sangidnibus (an Irishman 
and not of the five bloods), and demandeth judgment, if 
he shall be answered. The plaintiff replieth that he is of 
the five bloods, to wit: Of the O'Neills of Ulster, who by 



IRISHMEN HAD NO PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW. 139 

the grant of our Lord, the King, ought to enjoy and use 
the English liberties, and for freemen to be reputed in 
law. 

" The defendant rejoineth: That the plaintiff is not of 
the O'Neills of Ulster, nor of the five bloods; and, there- 
fore, they are at issue, which being found for the plain- 
tiff, he had judgment to recover his damages against the 
defendant. 

Again in the 29th, Edward I, before the Justices in 
Oyer, at Drogheda, Thomas Le Botteler brought an action 
of detenue against Robert de Almain, for certain goods : 
" The defendant pleadeth : That he is not bound to an- 
swer the plaintiff for this, that the plaintiff is an Irishman 
and not of free blood. 

" And the aforesaid Thomas says that he is an English- 
man, and this he prays may be inqaired of by the coun- 
try. Therefore, let a jury come, and so forth ; and the 
jurors, on their oath, say that the aforesaid Thomas is an 
Englishman. Therefore it is adjudged that he do receive 
his damages." 

Thus these records demonstrate that the Irishman had 
no protection for his property, because, if the plaintiff in 
either case had been declared to be an Irishman, the ac- 
tion would be barred, though the injury was not denied 
upon the records to have been committed. The validity 
of the plea in point of law was also admitted, so that, no 
matter what injury might be committed upon the real or 
personal property of an Irishman, the courts of law afford- 
ed him no species of remedy. 

But this absence of protection was not confined to prop- 
erty ; the Irishman was equally unprotected in his per- 
son and his life. The following quotation from Davies' 
Hist. Tracts, page 82, puts this beyond doubt : 

" The real Irish were not only accounted aliens, but 
enemies, and altogether out of the protection of the law ; 
so as it was no capital offence to kill them ; and this is 
manifest by many records. At a jail delivery at Water- 
ford, before John Wogan, Lord Justice of Ireland, the 
4th of Edw. II, we find it recorded among the pleas of 
the crown of that year, that Robert Wallace, being ar- 



140 INDICTMENT FOE KILLING AN IRISHMAN. 

raigned of the death of John, the son of Juor MacGil- 
lemory. by him felonously slain, and so forth, came and 
well acknowledged that he slew the aforesaid John, yet 
he said, that by his slaying he could not commit felony, 
because he said that the aforesaid John was a mere Irish- 
man, and not of the five bloods, and so forth ; and he 
further said, that inasmuch as the lord of the aforesaid 
John, whose Irishman the aforesaid John was, on the day 
on which he was slain had sought payment for the afore- 
said slaying of the aforesaid John as his Irishman, he, 
the said Robert, was ready to answer for such payment 
as was just in that behalf. And thereupon a certain 
John Le Poer came, and for our Lord the King said that 
the aforesaid John, the son of Juor MacGillemory, and his 
ancestors of that sur-name, from the time of our Lord 
Henry Fitz Empress, heretofore Lord of Ireland, the 
ancestors of our Lord the now King, was in Ireland, the 
law of England thence to the present day, of right had 
and ought to have, and according to that law ought to be 
judged and to inherit ; and so pleaded the character of 
denization granted to the Ostmen, all of which appeareth 
at large in the aforesaid record, wherein we may note 
that the killing of an Irishman was not punished by our 
law as manslaughter, which is felony and capital, for the 
law did not protect his life nor avenge his death but by 
a fine or pecuniary punishment. 

There is another case of record tried before the same 
Judge in 4th Edwd. II, which still more distinctly shows 
the perfect right claimed and enjoyed by the English in 
Ireland, of slaughtering with impunity " the mere Irish." 

''William Fitz Roger, being arraigned for the death of 
Roger de Cantelon, by him feloniously slain, comes and 
says that he could not commit felony by such killing, 
because the aforesaid Roger was an Irishman, and not of 
free blood. And he further says that the said Roger was 
of the surname of O'Hederiscal, and not of the surname of 
Cantelon; and of this he puts himself on the country, and 
so forth. And the jury upon their oath say, that the 
aforesaid Roger was an Irishman of the surname of 
O'Hederiscal, and for an Irishman, was reputed all the 



JAMES II OUTLAWED IN ENGLAND. 141 

days of his life; and therefore the said William, as far as 
regards the aforesaid felony, is acquitted. But inasmuch 
as the aforesaid Roger O'Hederiscal was an Irishman of 
our lord the King, the aforesaid William was re- com- 
mitted to jail, until he shall find pledges to pay five marks 
to our lord the King, for the value of the said Irishman" 
When James the Second was outlawed in England and 
had to flee for his life, he met with a hearty welcome 
from the Irish people. They had, to be sure, little reason 
to have much regard, respect, or confidence in any of the 
Stuart family. But James' case appealed to their every 
prejudice, to their every feeling. He was hounded by 
the English because he had dared to have the courage 
of his convictions and profess the Catholic faith — and 
had not the Irish people suffered for the self-same reason? 
He was the victim of a daughter's unnatural conduct, and 
of the ingratitude of a man who was at the same time his 
nephew and son-in-law. More than all, and above all — 
aye, conceal it as the historians and politicians may — ,, 
he had incurred the hatred of that perfidious and brutal '(./«..... 
race whom the Irish have hated, hate now, and wiil 
hate so long as warm blood pulsates in their veins, the 
cold-blooded, calculating and mercenary English. They 
(the English) had adopted the phlegmatic Dutchman 
as their sovereign. The Irish adopted the Scotchman 
as theirs. Many Irish historians claim credit for the 
Irish on account of their loyalty on this occasion. This 
is a mistake; the Irish were not loyal and never will be 
loyal to a monarch not of their own choosing. They took 
up the cause of James because he was the representative 
of the opposition to the dominant party in England. 
They would have supported William, Prince of Orange, 
with as much zeal — and certainly to better purpose — did 
they believe that he equally represented hostility to Eng- 
land. And surely, brave men never drew a sword or 
shook a bridle rein for a more worthless and cowardly 
poltroon than James the Second. The name by which 
he is to this day known in every Irish cabin but faintly 
expresses the contempt of the Irish for the man who fled 
precipitately from the Boyne, taking with him the best 



14-2 THE ARMIES OF WILLIAM AND JAMES. 

regiment of the Irish soldiers. Lady T^connelPs taunt, 
that he beat all the other runaways in the race from the 
Bovne, was well-deserved. The exclamation of the Irish 
officer to the English general after the battle: " Exchange 
kings with us and we will fight the battle over again," 
fully expresses the feelings .of those, who fought and lost 
on that dreadful day at the Boyne, and who, though few 
and faint, were fearless still." 

There is little need in a work like this to go into the 
details of the Williamite wars in Ireland, but that the Eng- 
lish romancist, sometimes misnamed historian Macauley, 
has totally misrepresented the conduct of the Irish sol- 
diers on that occasion. The English won the battle of 
the Boyne, not by superior powers, but by superior gen- 
eralship. The army of William was for its numbers the 
best appointed ever placed on a field of battle; his prin- 
cipal generals were veterans in many "foreign wars 
tried"; there were the Swiss, the Danes, the Dutch, the 
Hugenots, veterans of every European war. William 
was well supplied with cannon, James had scarely any. 
What had James to oppose to them? A few regiments, of 
French soldiers, some raw Irish levies, and a goodly and 
gallant array of Irish horse, led by a brave general, through 
whose veins it was hard to believe any of the blood of 
James flowed — the gallant young Duke of Berwick, and 
some by a more illustrious leader still, who afterwards 
proved " what Irishmen can do " — Patrick Sarsfield, Earl 
of Lucan. Mr. A. M. Sullivan's description of the battle 
of the Boyne is the best yet written, and is here. given. 
After describing the position of either army he says : 
"In accordance with the plan of battle arranged the pre- 
vious night, the first move on William's side was the 
march of 10,000 men with five pieces of artillery for the 
bridge of Slane .... to turn the flank of James' armv. 

SUPERIORITY OF THE ENGLISH ALLIED FORCES. 

The infantry portion of his force crossing at Slane . . came 
upon Sir Neal O'Neill and his 500 dragoons on the ex- 
treme left of the Jacobite position. For fully an hour 
did the gallant O'Neill hold this force in check, he him- 



THE BATTLE AT THE BOYJSTE. 143 

self falling mortally wounded in the thick of the fight. 
But soon the Danish horse crossing at Ross-na-ree, the 
full force of ten thousand men advanced upon the Jacob- 
ite flank. Just at this moment there arrived, however, a 
force of French and Swiss infantry and some Irish horse 
under Lauzun, who so skillfully posted his checking 
force on the slope of a hill with a marsh in front, that 
Douglas and Schomberg, notwithstanding their enormous 
numerical superiorit}', did not venture to attack 
until they had obtained an additional supply of 
troops. Then only did the infantry advance, while 
the cavalry, amounting to twenty-four squadrons, 
proceeded round the bog, completely overlapping 
and flanking the Jacobite left wing. Meanwhile Schom- 
bers: the elder, in command of the Williamite cen- 
tre, fin din 2* that his son and Douglas had the Jacobites 
well engaged, gave the word for the passage of the fords. 
TyrconnelPs regiment of foot-guards, with other Irish 
foot (only a few of them being armed with muskets.) 
occupied the ruined breastwork, fences and the ruined 
farm houses on the opposite side; having some cavalry 
drawn up beside the low hills close by, to support them. 
But the Williamites had a way for emptying these 
breastworks and clearing the bank for their fording par- 
ties. Fifty pieces of cannon swept the whole of the Irish 
position with their iron storm. Under cover of this tre- 
mendous fire, to which the Irish had not a single field- 
piece to reply, the van of the spendidly appointed infant- 
ry plunged into the stream. . . As they neared the south- 
ern bank the roar of cannon ceased — a breathless pause 
of suspense ensued. Then a wild cheer rung from the 
Irish lines; and such of the troops as had guns opened 
fire. The volley was utterly ineffective. The Dutch 
Guards were the first to the bank, where they instantly 
formed. Here they were charged by the Irish foot; but 
before the withering fire of the cool and skillful foreign 
veterans these raw levies were cut up instantly and 
driven from behind the fences. 



144 THE BATTLE AT THE BOYNE. 

SPLENDID CHARGE OF TnE IRISH CAVALRY. 

Now, however, was the time for Hamilton, at the head 
of the only Irish disciplined force on the field — the horse 
— to show what his men could do. The ground literally 
trembled beneath the onset of this splendid force. Irre- 
sistable as an avalanche, they struck the third battalion of 
Dutch Blues while yet in the stream, and hurled them 
back. The Hugenots were broken through, and the 
Bran den burghers turned and fled. Schomberg, on 
hearing that his friend Callemote, commander of the Huge- 
nots was slain, rushed forward with a chosen body of the 
reserves, and "strove to rally the flying Hugenots." 
"Come on, come on, Messeers; behold your persecutors," 
he cried, pointing to the French infantry on the other 
bank. " Tyrconnell's Irish horse-guards . . . again 
broke through the Huguenots, cleaving Schomberg's 
head with two fearful sabre wounds, and lodging a bullet 
in his neck." 

" At this time William, at the head of some 5,000 of 
the flower of his cavalry, . . . disengaged his wounded 
arm from its sling, and calling aloud to his troops to fol- 
low him, plunged boldly into the stream. William and 
his cavalry reached the opposite bank with difficulty; 
marshalling his force with great celerity, he rushed furi- 
ously on the Irish right flank, commanded by the young 
Duke of Berwick. Both bodies of horse were simul- 
taneously under way. As they neared each other the 
excitement became choking, and above the thunder of the 
horses' feet on the sward, could be heard bursting from a 
hundred hearts the vehement passionate shouts of every 
troop officer, " Close — close up; for God's sake, closer, 
closer! On they came, careering like the whirlwind — and 
then! What a crash! Like a thunderbolt the Irish 
broke clear through the Williamites. The gazers beheld 
the white-plumed form of young Berwick at the head of 
the Irish horse, far into the middle of the Williamite 
mass; and soon, with a shout — a roar that rose above the 
din of battle — a frantic peal of exultation and vengeance, 
the Irish absolutely swept the Dutch and Enniskillen 



THE BATTLE AT THE BOYNE. 145 

cavalry down the slopes upon the river. The Williamite 
centre again crossed the stream, and William himself, 
having 1 been reinforced by some troops of infantry, ad- 
vanced once more and drove the Irish back to Sheep House, 
where they had made a stand. The Enniskillens turned 
and fled. William tried in vain to rally them, but to no 
purpose. The Dutch also fled, and it was only by the 
utmost exertions of Ginckel that the retreat did not be- 
come a panic." " Berwick and Sheldon pressed their foes 
with resistless energy — and down the lane leading to 
Sheep House went the Williamite horse and foot, with the 
Irish cavalry in full pursuit." But William's left having 
turned, the Irish right flank came up and occupied the 
lane before mentioned, while the Irish were driving Wil- 
liam before them. The Irish, on returning to their former 
position, u found themselves assailed by a close and deadly 
fusilade " from the enemy. Ginckel fell on their rear, and 
William, at the head of his lately beaten troop fell on the' 
right, and the "overborne, but not out-braved heroes re- 
treated to Donore. 

The soldier's hope, the patriot's zeal, 

Forever dimmed, forever cross 't. 
Oh ! who can say what heroes feel, 

When all but life and honor 's lost. 

The Irish army was defeated but not vanquished ; the 
cowardly king whiningly regretted that all was over. 
The Irish officers would not believe in submission. They 
determined to retreat into Connau^ht and defend the line 
of the Shannon. How they succeeded is well known. 
Limerick and Athlone were the rallying points. 

Another brave stand was made at Athlone and after- 
wards at Aughrim, where the Irish might have been suc- 
cessful, but for the jealousy of St. Ruth to Sarsfield. 
Limerick held out against William until September, 1691. 
Favorable conditions of capitulation were granted. Sars- 
field, much to the grief of his brave garrison, accepted. 
The soldiers broke their swords and muskets and cried 
with very vexation. The treaty of Limerick " broke ere 
the ink wherewith 'twas writ could dry" was agreed on. 
The English bigots and the Irish malignants would not 
10 



146 ATHLONE AND ANGHEIM. 

allow William to carry out its provisions. William was 
not the man to incur the loss of position or prestige by 
any mistaken generosity. The Irish soldiers, the " wild 
geese " went "to join the b:igade in the wars far away." 
Brutal penal laws were enacted to extirpate the Irish 
Catholics. 

Among the poor, 

Or on the moor. 
Were hid the pious and the true, 

While traitor, knave 
And recreant slave 

Had riches, rank and retinue. 

How differently the Irish Catholics would have treated 
their Protestant fellow-countrymen may be judged from the 
fact that the " Catholic " Parliament which met in Dublin 
in 1690, and which, by the way, was not wholly Catholic, 
affirmed the right of all persons to freedom of conscience, 
and toleration of all creeds. 

The Irish Catholics could well say to their Protestant 
oppressor, in after years, in reference to these facts — 

How fared it that season, our lords and our masters, 

In the spring of our freedom, how fared it with you? 
Did we trample your faith '? 

Did we mock j-our disasters? 
We gave but his own to the loyal and true; 

Ye had fallen; 'twas a season of tempest and troubles; 
But against ye we drew not the knife ye had drawn; 

In the war-field we met; but your prelates and nobles 
Stood up mid the Senate in ermine and lawn. 

" An event befel in the summer of 1692, which deserves 
notice," says Mitchel in his history of Ireland. " On a 
July morning, when the Protestant Parliament in Dublin 
was devising cunning oaths against transubstantiation and 
the Invocation of Saints to drive out its few Catholic 
members, Patrick Sarsfield and some of his comrades, just 
fresh from Limerick, had the deep satisfaction to meet 
Kins: William on the grlorious field of Steinkerk. Sars- 
field and Berwick were then officers high in command 
under Marshal Luxembourg, when King William, at the 
head of a great allied force, attacked the French encamp- 
ment. The attacking force was under the banners of 



SARSFIELD MEETS WILLIAM AT STEINKIRK. 117 

England, of the United Provinces, of Spain and of the 
Empire ; and it had all the advantage of effecting a sur- 
prise. The battle was long and bloody, and was finished 
by a splendid charge of French cavalry, among the 
foremost of whose leaders was the same glorious Sarsfield 
whose sword had once before driven back the same Wil- 
liam from before the walls of Limerick. The English and 
their allies were entirely defeated in that battle, with a 
loss of about 10,000 men. Once more, and before verv 
long, Sarsfield and King William were destined to meet 
again." 

King James was at this time living in France, depen- 
dent on the bounty of Louis XIV, watching eagerly the 
result of the war between France and her al'ies. Reports 
of the unpopularity of William, in England, had reached 
the royal exile, and by the advice of his courtiers he issued 
a declaration, promising — the Stuarts were always great 
in promising — such reforms and improvements in admin- 
istration as might be calculated to conciliate public opin- 
ion in England and turn the minds of the people of Great 
Britain so as to lead a Way for his recall to the throne he 
had lost. This declaration was issued on the 17th of 
April, 1693, in which he promised a free pardon to all his 
rebellious subjects who had assisted to drive him out of 
his kingdom who should not now oppose his landing ; 
that as soon as he was restored he would call a parlia- 
ment ; that he would confirm all such laws passed during 
the usurpation as the Houses should present to him for 
confirmation ; that he would protect and defend the es- 
tablished church in all her possessions and privileges ; 
that he would not again violate the Test Act ; that he 
would leave it to the legislature to define the extent of 
his dispensing power ; and that he would maintain the 
act of settlement in Ireland. This declaration, then, was an 
appeal to his English subjects exclusively ; and to pro- 
pitiate them, he promised to leave the Irish people wholly 
at their mercy — to undo all the measures in favor of relig- 
ious liberty and common justice which had been enacted 
by the Irish parliament of 1689, and to leave the holders 
of the confiscated estates — his own deadly enemies in 



148 JAMES PLEADS TO HIS ENGLISH SUBJECTS. 

Ireland — in undisturbed possession of all their spoils. It 
was sent to England and failed to produce the effect de- 
sired. In Ireland, however, it produced a great and very 
just indignation among the Irish soldiers and gentlemen 
who had lost all their possessions, and encountered so 
many perils to vindicate the rights of this cowardly and 
faithless king. 

Serious discontent was manifested among the Irish 
regiments then serving in the Netherlands and on the 
frontiers of Germany and Italy at this act of base ingrat- 
itude, as useless as it was base; but the Irish troops in the 
army of St. Louis, the fierce exiles of Limerick, were at 
that time too busy in camp and field, and too keenly, 
eager to meet the English in battle, to pay much atten- 
tion to anything coming from King James. 

A portion of them soon had their wish. On the 19th of 
July, 1693, they were in presence again — on the banks 
of Landen, near Liege, in the Netherlands — a famous 
battle-ground. The French attacked the allies in an 
entrenched position. Fiercely they fought, and desper- 
ately were they repulsed. Three times were they driven 
back with fearful slaughter. At length Neerwinden being 
carried, the key of the position, the English and allied 
army gave way all along the line. The pursuit was furi- 
ous and sanguinary, the allies fighting every step of the 
way. "At length, " we again quote Mitchel, " the army 
of William arrived at the little river of Gette; and here 
the retreat was in danger of becoming a total route. Arms 
and standards were flung away, and multitudes of fugi- 
tives were choking up the fords and bridges [of the riv- 
er, or perishinor- in its waters, so fiercely did the victors 
press upon their rear. It was here that Patrick Sars- 
field, Earl of Lucan, who had that day, as well as at 
Steinkirk, earned the admiration of the whole French 
army, received his death-shot at the head of his men. It 
was in a happy moment. Before he fell he could see the 
standards of England swept along by the tide of head- 
long flight, or trailing in the muddy waters of the Gette; 
he could see fhe scarlet ranks that he had once hurled back 
from the ramparts of Limerick, now rent and torn, fast 



DEATH OF SARSFIELD ON FOREIGN SOIL. 149 

falling in their wild flight, while there was sent pealing 
after them the vengeful shout " Remember Limerick ! " 
The Catholics of Ireland may be said to disappear 
from history from the time of William of Orange till the 
era for volunteering, 1779, when England, wasted and im- 
poverished by continual wars, was unable to defend her 
possession of Ireland from a foreign foe. Most of the 
choicest intellect and energy of the Irish race were now 
to be looked for at the courts of Versailles, Madrid and 
Vienna, or under the standards of France on every bat- 
tle-field of Europe . . . while the ancient Irish nation lay in 
the miserable condition of utter nullity. The Protestant 
colony continued its efforts to vindicate its independence 
of the British Parliament, but with little success. At 
first sight it would seem strange that the English govern- 
ment should be jealous of any power which the ascend- 
ancy they had built up and fostered should acquire when 
that power so resolutely refused their Catholic fellow- 
countrymen any relaxation of the infamous penal code. 
They were taught to consider themselves as simply the 
humble instruments of their masters, the king and peo- 
ple of England, who were resolved to trample upon the 
presumptuous aspirations of their colony in Ireland in its 
efforts to assert legislative independence. 



THE MASSACRE OF MULLAGHIAST 



About the close of the Geraldine war this ever-memo- 
rable massacre occurred. 

It is not, unhappily, the only tragedy of the kind to be 
met with in our blood-stained annals; yet it is of all the 
most vividly perpetuated in popular traditions. In 1577, 
Sir Francis Cosby, commanding the Queen's troops in 
Leix and Offaly, formed a diabolical plot for the perma- 
nent conquest of that district. Peace at the moment pre- 
vailed between the government and the inhabitants; but 
Cosby seemed to think that in extirpation lay the only 
effectual security for the crown. Feigning, however, 
great friendship, albeit suspicious of some few " evil dis- 
posed" persons, said not to be well-affected, he invited to 
a grand feast all the chief families of the territory; at- 
tendance thereat being a sort of test of amity. To this 
summons responded the flower of the Irish nobility in 
Leix and Offaly, with their kinsmen and friends — the 
O'Mores, O'Kellys, Lalors, O'Nolans, etc. The "banquet" 
— alas! — was prepared by Cosby in the great Rath or Fort of 
Mullach-Maisten, or Mullaghmast, in Kildare county. Into 
the great rath rode a many pleasant cavalcade that day; 
but none ever came forth that entered in. A gentleman 
named Lalor who had halted a little way off, had his sus- 
picions in some way aroused. He noticed, it is said, that 
while many went into the rath, none were seen to reap- 
pear outside. Accordingly he desired his friends to re- 
main behind while he advanced and reconnoitred. He 
entered cautiously. Inside, what a horrid spectacle met 
his sight! At the very entrance the dead bodies of some 

(150) 



MASSACRE OF MULLAGHMAST. 151 

of his slaughtered kinsmen! In an instant he himself 
was set upon; but drawing his sword, he hewed his way 
out of the fort and back to his friends, and they barely 
escaped with their lives to Dysart! He was the only 
Irishman, out of more than four hundred who entered the 
fort that day, that escaped with life! The invited guests 
were butchered to a man; one hundred and eighty of the 
O'Mores alone having thus perished. 

The peasantry long earnestly believed and asserted 
that on the encircled rath of slaug-hter rain or dew never 

CD 

fell, and that the ghosts of the slain might be seen, and 
their groans distinctlv heard "on the solemn midnight 
blast!" 

O'er the Rath of Mullaghmast, 
On the solemn midnight blast, 
What bleeding spectres pass'd 

With their gashed breasts bare! 

Hast thou heard the fitful wail 
That o'erloads the sullen gale 
When the waning moon shines pale 

O'er the cursed ground there? 

Hark! hollow moans arise 

Through the black tempestuous skies, 

And curses, strife, and cries, 

From the lone rath swell; 

For bloody Sydney there 
Nightly fills the lurid air 
With the unholy pompous glare 

Of the foul, deep hell. 
******* 

False Sydney! knighthood's stain! 
The trusting brave — in vain 
Thy guests — ride o'er the plain 

To thy dark cow'rd snare; 

Flow'r of Offaly and Leix, 

They have come thy board to grace — 

Fools! to meet a faithless race, 

Save with true swords bare. 

While cup and song abound, 

The triple lines surround 

The closed and guarded mound, 

In the night's dark noon. 



152 MASSACKE AT MTJLLAGHMAST. 

Alas! too brave O'More, 

E'er the revelry was o'er, 

They have spill'd thy young heart's gore, 

Snatch 'd from love too soon! 

At the feast, unarmed all, 
Priest, bard, and chieftain fall 
In the treacherous Saxon's hall, 

O'er the bright wine bowl. 

And now nightly round the board, 
With unsheath'd and reeking sword, 
Strides the cruel felon lord 

Of the blood stain'd soul. 

Since that hour the clouds that pass'd 
O'er the Rath of Mullaghinast, 
One tear have never cast 

On the gore-dyed sod; 

For the shower of crimson rain 
That o'erflowed that fatal plain, 
Cries aloud, p t nd not in vain, 

To the most high God! 

A sword of vengeance tracked Cosbj^ from that day. 
In Leix or Offaly after this terrible blow there was no 
raising a regular force; yet of the family thus murderous- 
ly cut down, there remained one man who thenceforth 
lived but to avenge his slaughtered kindred. This was 
Ruari Oge O'More, the guerilla chief of Leix and Offaly, 
long the terror and the scourge of the Pale. While he 
lived none of Cosby's " undertakers" slept securely in the 
homes of the plundered race. Swooping down upon their 
castles and mansions, towns and settlements, Ruari be- 
came to them an Angel of Destruction. When they 
deemed him farthest away, his sword of vengeance was at 
hand. In the lurid glare of burning roof and blazing gra- 
nary, they saw like a spectre from the rath, the face of an 
O'More; and, above the roar of the flames, the shrieks of 
victims, or the crash of falling battlements, they heard in 
the hoarse voice of an implacable avenger — " Remember 
Mullaghmastl™ 

And the sword of Ireland still was swift and strong to 
pursue the author of that bloody deed, and to strike him 



THE MASSACRE OF MULLAGHMAST. 153 

and his race through two generations. One by one they 
met their doom — 

In the lost battle 

Borne down by the flying"; 
Where mingle' s war's rattle 

With the groans of the dying. , 

THE FIREBRAND OF THE MOUNT AIISTS. 

On the bloody day of Glenmalure, when the red flag 
of England went down in the battle's hurricane, and 
Elizabeth's proud viceroy, Lord Grey de Wilton, and all 
the chivalry of the Pale were scattered and strewn like 
autumn leaves in the gale, Cosby of Mullaghmast fell in 
the rout, sent swiftly to eternal judgment with the brand 
of Cain upon his brow. A like doom, a fatality, tracked 
his children from generation to generation! They too 
perished by the sword or the battle-axe — the last of them, 
son and grandson, on one day, by the stroke of an aveng- 
ing O'More* — until it may be questioned if there now 
exists a human being in whose veins runs the blood of 
the greatly infamous knight commander, Sir Francis 
Cosby. 

The battle of Glenmalure was fought 25th of August, 
1580. That magnificent defile, as I have already .re- 
marked, in the words of one of our historians, had long- 
been for the patriots of Leinster " a fortress dedicated by 
nature to the defence of freedom;" and never had for- 
tress of freedom a nobler soul to command its defense 
than he who now held Glenmalure for God and Ireland — 
Feach M'Hugh O'Byrne, of Ballinacor, called by the 
English "The Firebrand of the Mountains." In his time 
no sword was drawn for liberty in any corner of the 
Island, near or far, that his own good blade did not leap 
responsively from its scabbard to aid "the good old 
cause." Whether the tocsin was sounded in the north 
or in the south, it ever woke pealing echoes amidst the 
hills of Glenmalure. As in later years, Feach of Ballina- 

* " Ouney, son of Ruari Oge O'More, slew Alexander and Fran- 
cis Cosby, son and grandson of Cosby of Mullaghmast, and routed 
their troops with great slaughter, at Stradbally Bridge, 19th May, 
1597." 



154 THE MASSACRE OF MULLAGHMAST. 

cor was the most trusted and faithful of Huo;h O'Neill's 
friends and allies, so was he now in arms stoutly battling 
for the Geraldine league. His son-in-law, Sir Francis 
Fitzgerald, and James Eustace, Viscount Baltinglass, had 
rallied what survived of the clansmen of Idrone, Offaly, 
and Leix, and had effected a junction with him, taking 
up strong positions in the passes of Slieveroe and Glen- 
malure. Lord Grey of Wilton arrived as lord lieutenant 
from England on the 12th August. Eager to signalize 
his advent to office by some brilliant achievement, he re- 
joiced greatly that so near at hand — within a day's march 
of Dublin Castle — an opportunity presented itself. Yes! 
He would measure swords with this wild chief of Glen- 
malure, who had so often defied the power of England. 
He would extinguish the " Firebrand of the Mountain," 
and plant the cross of St. George on the ruins of Ballina- 
cor! So, assembling a right royal host, the haughty vice- 
roy marched upon Glenmalure. The only accounts which 
we possess of the battle are those contained in letters 
written to England by Sir William Stanley and others 
of the lord lieutenant's officials and subordinates; so that 
we may be sure the truth is very scantily revealed. Lord 
Grey having arrived at the entrance to the glen, seems 
to have had no greater anxiety than to " hem in" the 
Irish. So he constructed a strong earthwork or en- 
trenched camp at the mouth of the valley the more ef- 
fectually to stop " escape!" It never once occurred to 
the vain -glorious English viceroy that it was he himself 
and his royal army that were to play the part of fugitives 
in the approaching scene! All being in readiness, Lord 
Grey gave the order of the advance; he and a group of 
courtier friends taking their place on a high ground com- 
manding a full view up the valley, so that they might lose 
nothing of the gratifying spectacle anticipated. An om- 
inous silence prevailed as the English regiments pushed 
their way into the glen. The courtiers waxed witty; 
they wondered whether the game had not " stolen away;" 
they sadly thought there would be "no sport;" or they 
hallooed right merrily to the troops to follow on and " un- 
earth" the " old fox." After a while the way became 



THE MASSACRE OF MULLAGHMAST. 155 

more and more tedious. " We were," says Sir "William 
Stanley, " forced to slide sometimes three or four fathoms 
ere we could stay our feet;" the way being "full of 
stones, rocks, logs, and wood; in the bottom thereof a 
river full of loose stones which we were driven to cross 
divers times." At length it seemed good to Feach 
M'Hugh O'Byrne to declare that the time had come for 
action. Then from the forest-clad mountain sides there 
burst forth a wild shout whereat many of the jesting cour- 
tiers turned pale; and a storm of bullets assailed the en- 
tangled English legions. As yet the foe was unseen; 
but his execution was disastrous. The English troops 
broke into disorder. Lord Grey, furious and distracted, 
ordered up the reserves; but now Feach passed the word 
along the Irish lines to charge the foe. Like the torrents 
of winter pouring down those hills, down swept the Irish 
force from every side upon the struggling mass below. 
Yain was all effort to wrestle against such a furious 
charge. From the very first it became a pursuit. How 
to escape was now each castle courtier's wild endeavor. 
Discipline was utterly cast aside in the panic rout! Lord 
Grey and a few attendants fled early, and by fleet horses 
saved themselves; but of all the brilliant host the viceroy 
had led out of Dublin a few days before, there returned 
but a few shattered companies to tell the tale of disaster, 
and to surround with new terrors the name of Feach 
M'Hugh, the " Firebrand of the Mountains." 

The account of this atrocious and bloody deed has been 
selected as a sample of many similar cowardly " sur- 
prises " perpetrated by English Lord Deputies in Ireland, 
under various reigns. The thrilling narrative is taken 
from Sullivan's " Story of Ireland." 



ABSENTEEISM. 



While we have now recounted the invasions, confis- 
cations and forfeitures which marked the first ages of 
England's misrule in Ireland, the giant evil of absen- 
teeism which springs directly from an alien ownership 
of the soil acquired by fraud and robbery demands some 
attention, without which the story of the causes of Irish 
pauperism and famine would be incomplete indeed. 

" Previously to the Act of Union," says Lady Morgan, 
"absenteeism, though encouraged by the geographical 
position of the country, and promoted by some inveterate 
habits derived from ancient abuse, was principally con- 
fined among the native Irish, to a few individuals, whose 
ill-understood vanity tempted them to seek for a conse- 
quence abroad, which is ever denied to the unconnected 
strangers, a consequence which no extravagant expense 
can purchase. With few exceptions, therefore, the' mal- 
ady was confined to the great English proprietors of for- 
feited estates, whose numbers must, in the progress of 
events, have been diminished by the dissipations insepar- 
able from unbounded wealth, and the growth of commer- 
cial and manufactural fortunes. It might in some cases, 
indeed, be both a vice and a ridicule in the absent; but 
had the nation in other respects been well used and well 
governed, it would have been of no serious evil to those 
who remained at home, but the Act of Union, whatever 
may be its other operations, at once converted a local 
disease into a national pestilence. The center of business 
and of pleasure, the mart of promotion, and the fountain 
of favor were by this one fatal act at once removed into a 

(156) 



EVILS OF ABSENTEEISM. 157 

foreign land; ambition, avarice, dissipation and refine- 
ment, all combined to seduce the upper classes into a 
desertion of their homes and country; and as each suc- 
ceeding ornament of the Irish capital abandoned his hotel, 
as each influential landlord quitted his castle in the coun- 
try, or his mansion in the city, a new race of vulgar up- 
starts, of uneducated and capricious despots, usurped 
their place, spreading a barbarous morgue over the once 
elegant society of the metropolis, and banishing peace and 

security from the mountain and the plain In 

the political prospect of Ireland, the eye of philosophy 
and philanthrophy turns on every side in search of a prin- 
ciple of regeneration, and turns in vain. On every side 
a circle of recurring cause and effect, like the mystic em- 
blem of the Egyptians, points to an eternity of woe, and 
to endless cycles of misgovernment and resistance. As 
long as the actual system continues, — as long as every 
cause is forced to concur in rendering- Ireland uninhabi- 
table, so long will it be impossible to organize any plan 
for civilizing, tranquilizing and enriching the country. It 
is an empty and an idle boast in the British House of Com- 
mons, that it devotes successive nights to the debating of 
Irish affairs, so long as the religious divisions of the peo- 
ple, and pro-consular government founded upon that di- 
vision, are to be recognized as sound policy or Christian 
charity. The half measures which have hitherto been 
adopted, far from proving beneficial, and composing the 
hostility of hostile factions, have served only to increase 
discontent and disarm inquiry. Nor can the ministers 
be entitled to any praise for generosity who dare not in 
the first place be just. In spite, therefore, of all their 
professions of zeal and compassion for the national dis- 
tress — in spite of all their parliamentary tamperings with 
the national abuses, they must still remain answerable for 
the greater part of the absenteeship, which they hold up 
as the great ill over which they have no control, and for 
the existence of which they imagine themselves not re- 
sponsible." — Absenteeism, by Lady Morgan, from pp. 
152 to 158. 

" The British people should also learn that the absence 



158 DEAN SWIFT ON ABSENTEEISM. 

of the ancient nobles and protecting aristocracy of Ire- 
land, drawn away by the Union from their demesnes and 
tenantry, to the seat of legislation, and replaced only by 
the grasping hands and arbitrary sway of upstart depu- 
ties — increases in proportion with the miseries and turbu- 
lence of the lower orders, and that the luxuriant vegeta- 
tion which clothes that capacious Island has through the 
same causes become only a harbinger of want, or the 
forbidden fruit of famished peasantry." Barrington's 
Hist. Anecdotes. 

" If I had hopes to get a law passed to burn every 
clergyman who does not reside, to hang every gentle- 
man and behead every nobleman, who desert their coun- 
try for their amusement, I would even be content to 
return to the world and solicit votes for it; but without 
taking up the burden of life again, I should feel joy in 
my grave to have their estates saddled with a constant 
tax for absence. How lightly soever gentlemen regard 
this desertion of their native soil, it is certainly a crime 
no good or great man can be guilty of; and the officer 
who quits his quarters, or the sailor who forsakes his ship, 
does not better deserve to be mulcted in his pay than 
they do. I assure you, dear Tom, I could name crowds 
of our Irish gentlemen, that would double their estates if 
they would live on them, and ditch them, and drain them, 
and build them, and plant them, with half the skill and 
application of a rich, sensible farmer in England; nay, I 
know some of them that are so situated that they would 
quadruple their rents in some years, if they would build 
towns and set up manufactures on them with proper 
care." — Dialogue between Dean Swift and Thomas Prior. 

If absenteeism be an evil to any nation, must it not be 
a peculiar one to Ireland? If originating in dire mis- 
rule in 1172, Henry II divided the island into ten can- 
tonments, which he granted to ten of his Anglo-Norman 
followers, to the exclusion of the native Irish (Facts on 
Ireland, p. 7); if he made eight counties palatine, which 
created continued warfare, and such infamy, that, as 
Sir John Davies states, " the weaker had no remedy 
against the stronger, and no man could enjoy his life, his 



THE RESULT OF ABSENTEEISM. 159 

wife, his lands, or his goods in safety, if a mightier than 
himself had a mind to take them from him;" if " on the 
death of the Earl of Pembroke, son-in-law of Strongbow, 
and on the decease of his son, his great possessions in 
Ireland became the property of five females, each of 
whom had a county; and that they married five noble- 
men, who had great possessions in England, and conse- 
quently resided there, must we not add with the author 
of " Facts" that, now began the serious mischief arising 
from absentees, a mischief that unfortunately continues 
to the present day, and which may be assigned as one of 
the principal causes of the poverty and degraded condi- 
tion of the people. 

" The cause of absentee lords was that the leaders of 
the old Irish refused obedience to English laws, and that 
the Earl of Norfolk, who was entitled to the lordship of 
Carlow (by English law), employed one of the Cava- 
naughs as his steward, who became master of the entire 
county." — Facts, p. 11. 

" The result of Lord Mortimer becoming an absentee 
and leaving Leix and Offaly to be managed by Lisah was 
that the latter contrived to keep them to himself, and 
that his family kept them for centuries." — Finglas MS. 

" Great mischief attended the absence in England of 
the great proprietors of the land in Ireland, and that 
from the time of King John no English king had been in 
the country, nor had any of the king's sons been in Ire- 
land." — Facts, p 13. Must we not feel that absenteeism 
has been a peculiar grievance to Ireland? " King 
Richard II considered the absence of the landed proprie- 
tors of Ireland as the principal cause of the degenerate 
state of the country, and had an act passed directing all 
absentees to return to Ireland on pain of forfeiting two- 
thirds of the profits of their lands." — Ibid, p. 15.* 

In the reign of Philip and Mary, Offaly, so long pos- 
sessed by the O'Mores, was divided into two shires, 
King's and Queen's counties, in consequence of the pro- 
prietors being absentees. Many of the ancient nobility 
and gentry followed James II into exile, quitting their 
native country, severing the ties of nature and friendship 



160 EFFECTS OF ABSENTEEISM. 

to follow the fortunes of a fugitive prince to whom they 
had sworn allegiance. Some of the ablest generals in 
France, Spain and Austria were exiles from Ireland. 
From 1613 to 1652 the Catholic property in Ireland was 
reduced one-fifth, according to Lelaad, but in 16VJ3, in 
consequence of their adherence to James, it was nearly 
all transferred to Protestants who were mostly absentees. 
— Leland, Vol. 3, p. 574. 

Between 1640 and 1652, so great was the misery caused 
by forfeitures and absentees, that a barrel of wheat which 
sold in the former year at 12s. was 50s. in the latter ; 
that the stock of cattle which, in 1640 was valued at 
£4,000,000, in 1652 was not worth £400,000; that 8,000,000 
acres of land which would sell in 1640 for £1 per acre, in 
1652 would not bring one-eighth of that amount (Petty's 
Pol. Anatomy); and that about the same time 7,800,000 
acres were set out to purchasers and adventurers. (Down 
Survey). In 1682, Richard Lawrence, in his " True Inter- 
est of Ireland Considered," states that the sums remitted 
to absentees were £157,464. Battersby, in his " Repeal- 
ers Manual," calculates the amount of the absentee drain 
at £4,650,000. The census of 1871, the last taken, gives 
the number of absentee landlords at 2,973, owning 
5,129,169 acres, and the rateable valuation for taxation at 
£2,470,816, which at a fair valuation for rental would give 
over £6,000,000, or the annual drain from absentees over 
thirty millions of dollars per annum. 

The American Declaration of Independence was more 
far-reaching in its effects, and embraced a larger area and 
a greater population than its authors and signers ever 
supposed. France was aroused, and fifteen years after- 
ward "waded through slaughter " to liberty. Ireland, ever 
responsive to every movement in favor of freedom, and 
ever ready to make an opportunity of England's diffi- 
culty, determined to unbind the chains in which England 
had bound her. Accordingly we find that she was active 
in her sympathy with America, for in 1777 a resolution in- 
troduced by Mr. Daly, and calling on the King to discon- 
tinue the war against America, passed the Irish House of 
Commons. Nor was her sympathy confined to resolutions 



IRISH SYMPATHY WITH AMERICAN REBELS. 161 

alone. Material aid was given, and the pages of the 
muster-roll of the Continental army are as abundant in 
Celtic names as that of the Union armies of later days, 
in comparison to the numbers enrolled. 

While England was engaged in war with France and 
America. Ireland was busy organizing a volunteer force 
which was destined to play a very important part in the 
history of after years. The English, or Government party 
in the Irish Parliament, attempted to thwart the organiza- 
tion of the volunteer force, but the patriotic party under 
Grattan, who had entered Parliament a few years before 
under the patronage of Charlemont, was able to defeat all 
schemes to substitute a militia for the volunteers. That 
the Anglo-Irish faction distrusted the volunteers is evi- 
dent, from the fact that although the act creating the force 
was passed in 1777, it was not until 1779, and then very 
reluctantly, that they were furnished with arms by the 
government. The volunteer force at first consisted ex- 
clusively of Protestants, or if there were Catholics in the 
ranks they were there by connivance. The spirit of patri- 
otism displayed by the Irish Catholics on this occasion is 
beyond ail praise; excluded themselves from the privi- 
lege of bearing arms, they contributed largely to the 
equipment of the Protestant volunteers. TheCatholics of 
Limerick alone subscribed £800 for this purpose — a large 
sum for that period. This liberality and patriotism was 
not lost on the original volunteers, and soon the Catholics 
were allowed to organize independent companies, which 
they set about with right good will. The national army 
was, however, only a means to an end. The Patriot 
Irish party not only resolved that all restrictions on Irish 
Catholics should be removed, but that the legislature and 
the judiciary of Ireland should be free and independent. 

In the Parliament of 1779 an amendment to the address 
in answer to the King's speech was carried without a di- 
vision, demanding, in no equivocal tones, that "free 
trade " should be granted to Ireland. The next day the 
speaker, accompanied by Grattan, Burgh, Daly and other 
members of the Patriotic party, took the amended address 
to the Lord Lieutenant. "The streets," savs McGee, 
■ 11 



162 THE VOLUNTEERS AND FREE TRADE. 

"were lined with volunteers commanded in person by the 
Duke of Leinster, who presented arms to the patriotic 
Commons as they passed." On the following day the 
house passed a vote of thanks to the volunteers for their 
" exertions in defense of their country." The English at 
first refused to make any concessions, but on the adop- 
tion of Grattan's amendment to the supply-bill, that " at 
this time it is inexpedient to grant new taxes," by a vote 
of 170 to 47, the concessions demanded were reluctantly 
made, and thus was free trade established in Ireland by 
the patriotism of the Irish volunteers and the firmness of 
the Irish Parliament led by Grattan. Mr. Pitt was 
obliged to send a circular letter to the English manu- 
facturing towns, assuring them that the concessions made 
to the Irish were of little practical value, which, of course, 
was not true. But Grattan and his compatriots were not 
satisfied with free trade alone; they determined to have a 
free Paliament, too, and on the 19th of April, 1780, moved 
"that the King, Lords and Commons of Ireland are the 
only power competent to enact laws to bind Ireland." 
The motion was supported by Burgh and Yelverton; but 
Flood and Daly were for delay, while others resisted the 
motion, and an amendment by the government that, 
" there being an equivalent resolution already on the 
journals of the House," a new resolution was necessary, 
was carried by 136 to 79. The result, however, was 
gratifying to Grattan. 

The attempt of the government to force on the Irish 
parliament the perpetual Mutiny act, called the services 
of the volunteers into requisition once again. Meetings 
were held throughout the country, " and significant ad- 
dresses presented to Grattan, Flood and Charlemont." 
Grattan, in his place in parliament, said that he would op- 
pose the bill with all his might, and that if it was enacted 
he and his friends would withdraw from parliament and 
appeal to the country. The government did not dare to 
press the bill during that session. Parliament was not 
assembled again till October, 1781. In the meantime, 
Lord Carlisle had succeeded Buckingham as Viceroy, and 
the English, true to their old policy, were lavish in the 



DECLARATION OF IRISH RIGHTS. 163 

distribution of bribes in the way of titles and places. The 
Mutiny Bill was resisted with great spirit by Grattan. 
The news of the surrender of Cornwallis disarranged the 
plans of the government. The volunteers held a conven- 
tion at Dun cannon in February, 1782. Resolutions were 
unanimously adopted declaring it unconstitutional, illegal, 
and a grievance for any body of men "other than the 
King, Lords and Commons of Ireland " to claim the right 
to make laws for their country. These resolutions — the 
declaration of Irish Rights — were ratified with surprising 
unanimity by the various public bodies throughout the 
Island. On the 16th of April, 1782, Grattan moved the 
following amendment to a motion by Mr. Ponsonby : 

" That the kingdom of Ireland is a distinct kingdom, 
with a Parliament of her own, the sole legislature thereof; 
that there is no body of men competent to make laws to 
bind the nation but the King, Lords and Commons of 
Ireland, nor any Parliament which hath any authority or 
power of any sort whatever in this country, save only the 
Parliament of Ireland," etc. 

Mr. Brown low, the member from Armagh, seconded 
the amendment, which was carried by a unanimous vote, 
and " after centuries of oppression," says Sir Jonah Bar- 
rington, "Ireland declared herself an independent nation." 
The patriot pens of Swift, Molyneux and Lucas, the de- 
termination of the u volunteers of '82^ and the splendid 
genius and lofty patriotism of Grattan had triumphed. 
" I found Ireland on her knees," said Grattan. " I 
watched over her with fraternal solicitude; I have traced 
her progress from injury to arms, and from arms to lib- 
erty." 

" Manufacture, trade and commerce," says Mr. Sulli- 
van, " developed to a greater extent in ten years of na- 
tive rule than they had done in the previous one hundred 
under English mastery." The Irish Parliament set about 
reforming the laws relating to suffrage. It was sought 
to disfranchise the "rotten boroughs"; this the English 
government resisted, and in 1800 they had reason to con- 
gratulate themselves on the wisdom of their refusal. 

As the struggle of the American colonies inspired 



164 SOCIETY OF THE UNITED IRISHMEN FOEMED. 

Grattan and his friends to measures " peacable, legal and 
constitutional, " for the achievement of the legislative 
independense of Ireland, so the more passionate, the bold- 
er, and bloodier French revolution inspired many of the 
more fiery spirits of Ireland to more republican and rev- 
olutionary principles. Of these spirits the ablest, the 
boldest and most liberal was Theobald Wolf Tone — 
" Gallant Tone." His first measures tended to bring 
about a union of all classes, creeds and sects in an effort 
to accomplish by legal measures parliamentary reform 
and the enfranchisement of Catholics. The first associa- 
tion of this kind was formed in Belfast, and soon branch 
organizations were established in every town in Ireland. 
The association was called the Society of United Irish- 
men, and no pains were spared by the members to en- 
large the organization or to inculcate the doctrines for 
which it was established. , 

The persecution by the government of some of its most 
active members, compelled the United Irish Association 
to become an oath-bound and secret body. The society 
grew to great proportions. About half a million of men 
were soon enrolled. The leaders established communica- 
tions with France, and for a time it seemed as if the 
United Irishmen would succeed in their purpose by other 
than " legal, peaceable and constitutional " means. The 
Insurrection Act, making it a capital offense to adminis- 
ter the United Irish Society oath was passed in 1796. 
Eighty thousand men were quartered in Ireland to sup- 
press the rebellion should it take place. Supreme con- 
trol of the country was given to the military authorities. 
The Orange soldiers were quartered in the Catholic dis- 
tricts, and English soldiers in the Presbyterian districts of 
Ulster. Suspected parties were brought before the mili- 
ary tribunals, and on the testimony of perjured informers 
were condemned and executed. The lash, the gallows, 
and drum-head court-martial were the main support of 
British law in Ireland. 

Lord Holland asserts " that the people of Ireland were 
driven to resistance (which possibly they meditated be- 
fore) by the free quarters and excesses of the soldiery, 



THE PEOPLE GOADED TO PREMATURE INSURRECTION. 165 

which were such as are not permitted in civilized warfare, 
even in an enemy's country. Dr. Dickson, Lord Bishop 
of Down and Connor," continues Lord Holland, "assured 
me that he had seen .... wives and daughters exposed to 
every species of indignity, brutality and outrage, from 
which neither his (the bishop's) remonstrances nor those 
of other Protestant gentlemen could rescue them." Sir 
John Moore, referring to these brutalities, declared that 
if he were an Irishman he would be a rebel. 

The Supreme Council of the Irish Society was seized at 
the house of Oliver Bond in March, 1798. The papers, 
muster rolls, etc., were taken, and thus the government 
became acquainted with all the plans of the society, its 
membership and policy. The Sheareses, Lord Edward 
and Doctor Lawless, took charge of the affairs of the or- 
ganization, and the government bent all their energies to 
effect their capture. 

The 23d of May had been fixed for the day of the ris- 
ing, and on the 18th of that month Lord Edward was 
captured by Major Sirr, after a deadly struggle, in which 
he had mortally wounded several of the party. Lord Ed- 
ward lingered until the 4th of June. The Sheareses were 
captured on the 21st of May, and were executed on the 
14th of July following. The leaders being now removed, 
the United Irishmen were helpless. Abortive risings 
occurred in Antrim, Down, Meath,. Kildare and Dublin, 
but the insurgents were without leaders or organization, 
and the rebellion — if such it can be called — was speedily 
and bloodily quelled. The French expedition, under 
Humbert came too late, and after having advanced into 
Mayo was compelled to surrender. The later and smaller 
expeditions were equally unsuccessful. Wolf Tone was 
captured on board a French vessel, tried and executed. 
The savage soldiery were free to wreak their vengeance 
on the unprotected peasantry. 

There was one part of Ireland, however, which, although 
not permea ed to any great extent by the doctrines of 
the United Irishmen, could illy bear the taunts, the in- 
sults and the brutalities of the savage soldiery. The 
brave men of Wexford would die in defense of the honor 



166 THE WEXFOED INSURGENTS. 

of their wives and sweethearts, even though they should 
receive no aid from any other portion of the country. 

*' They rose in dark and evil days, 
To right their native land, 
And kindled there a living blaze 
That nothing can withstand." 

" And failing, though they nobly fought, they have shown 
what Irishmen might do were they united, resolved and 
brave as they were. The North Cork militia have won 
the unenviable notoriety of being the most savage, fiend- 
ish and devilishly inspired of all the brutal English sol- 
diery of '98. The cowardly imps of Satan were no sooner 
quartered on the people of Wexford than they set about 
forming Orange lodges. The " gentry " of the country — 
that is, the petty landlords — the vampires who continue 
to suck the life-blood of the people of Ireland — readily 
fraternized with the militia. Men were arrested and put 
to death on the most trivial pretext. The bridge, public 
squares, and market-places were the scenes of the most 
brutal and cowardly murders. At length, when twenty- 
eight men were shot down at Carmen, and twenty-four 
men at Dunlavin, without the form of trial, patience ceased 
to be a virtue. Father John Murphy, whose chapel and 
house were burned down on the night of the 26th of 
May, called on the people of Wexford to rise up and de- 
fend their homes. The people flocked to the brave 
priest's standard, attacked the militia at Camolin, killed 
the lieutenant and one soldier. The others fled like the 
cowardly scoundrels that they were. Father Murphy, 
with his little band, retired to take a defensive position 
on Oulart hill, where he was joined by many of the 
peasants. Here, on the next day, he was attacked by the 
Shilmalier Yeomen, under Col. LeHunte, and a detach- 
ment of the North Cork militia, under Col. Foote. The 
insurgents took shelter behind a hedge, and as the yeo- 
men and militia advanced quite close to their position, 
a small body of the rebels appeared on either flank. 
This manoeuvre had the desired effect of drawing the tire 
of the enemy, and before they had time to reload, 
the Wexford men fell upon and cut them to pieces. Only 



THE BATTLE AT 0ULAET HILL. 167 

half a dozen of the North Cork, including the Colonel, 
escaped. The yeomen fled without coming into action, 
and on their retreat, perpetrated the most frightful out- 
rages on innocent and defenceless women and children. 

Having secured the arms at Camolin, Ferns, and other 
places, Father Murphy next determined to attack Ennis- 
corthy. His army at this time amounted to 7,000 men 
although all were not well armed. The town was de- 
fended by a large and well armed force but the insurgents 
flushed with their victory at Oulart Hill captured the 
town after a determined struggle. The enemy fled to 
Wexford but not until they made an attempt to murder 
the prisoners in the jail; the warden however had fled 
with the keys, and so they were balked in their murderous 
object. The town of Gorey surrendered to the insurgents 
about the same time. The town of Wexford became the 
rallying point for the enemy. Mr. Colclough and Mr. 
Fitzgerald, who with Bagenal Harvey and other gentle- 
men were imprisoned in Wexford on suspicion, were sent 
to Vinegar Hill to treat with the insurgents who had en- 
camped at that point. Mr. Colclough was retained and 
Mr. Fitzgerald sent back to inform the English com- 
mander at Wexford that so far were they from proposing 
to surrender, that they would immediately attack Wex- 
ford itself. The garrison took fright at this message and 
immediately evacuated the town. 

Mr. Bagenal Harvey was made commander-in-chief of 
the insurgent army, but after the battle of Ross was re- 
tired from that position, and became president of a council 
or directory which sat in Wexford and directed the op- 
erations of the insurgent army. 

An expedition under Gen. Faucett, who set out from 
Dungannon at the head of a considerable force, was 
fallen on at a Three Rock," and three howziters were 
captured by the insurgents besides many prisoners, and 
more than a hundred of the enemy were left dead on the 
field. Three encampments were now formed, one at 
Vinegar Hill, under the command of Fathers Kearns and 
Clinch, and Messrs. Fitzgerald, Redmond, and Doyle; 
the Carrickbyrne camp, commanded by Bagnal Harvey 



168 INSUEGENTS AT new eoss. 

and Father Roche, and the camp at Carrigrua by Fathers 
Michael and John Murphy, Esmond Kyan, and Mr. Perry, 
of Inch. The last force marched toward Gorey and were 
met by Gen. Loftus at the head of 1,500 men, whom 
they forced back into the town. Being reinforced soon 
after by troops from Dublin under Col. Walpole, he set 
out on the 4th of June to break up the camp at Carrigrua, 
but the force fell into an ambuscade at Tubberneering. 
Walpole was killed, his ordinance and regimental flags 
captured, and the town of Gorey fell into the hands of 
of the insurgents. The division of the insurgents at Vine- 
gar Hill captured Newtownbarry and drove out its garrison 
of 800 men under Col. L'Estrange, but instead of follow- 
ing up their victory the insurgents, imbibed too freely of 
the refreshments, were attacked in turn and 400 of their 
number slain. A similar fate betook the insurgents at 
New Ross. They had captured the town and the garrison 
under Gen. Johnston, who was about retreating to Kilken- 
ny, but not being pursued he judged rightly that the 
victors were induljrino* in a carouse, returned and fell on 
them in the midst of their revels, and drove them out of 
the town with great slaughter. An attack on Arklow 
was defeated by Gen. Needham. Father Michael Murphy 
was slain and Esmond Kyan seriously wounded. It is 
said that 1,500 of the insurgents lost their lives in this 
battle. The defeated party retired to Vinegar Hill, 
which was now surrounded on all sides by an army of 
20,000 men under the command of Lake, Wilford, 
Dundas, and Johnson. Sir John Moore was prevented 
from joining this army by the insurgents at Carrigrua, 
with whom he had a " pretty sharp action." After 
about an hour's desperate fi rhting the insurgents broke 
and fled by the unguarded side of the hill, and the Wex- 
ford rebellion was broken. There was no concert of 
action on the part of the neighboring counties, the Wex- 
ford men, and a few stracnxlino- bands from Wicklow and 
Kildare, had to bear the whole brunt of battle, yet it 
took an army of 50,000 men to put down the insurrection 
in a single county. Had there been organization and 
discipline among the brave peasantry they might at least 



INSURGENTS AT NEW ROSS. 169 

have held out until aid was obtained from France or the 
other provinces. 

The rest of the story is shortly told. After trying in 
vain to rally the rebels, Bagenal Harvey and Father 
Roche surrendered. Grogan and Colclough were taken 
prisoners and all were beheaded. Esmond Kyan was ar- 
rested and instantly put to death, and the other leaders 
fled for safety. Many of them were afterwards arrested 
and summarily dealt with, and the last armed rebellion 
of Ireland against the rule of England was ended. 



NINETY-EIGHT TO FORTY-EIGHT. 



THE ACT OF UXIOX. 

It was on the first day of January, 1801, at the hour of 
noon, that the imperial United Standard, mounted on the 
Bedford tower in Dublin castle, and the guns of the royal 
salute battery in the Phcenix Park, announced to bleed- 
ing, prostrate, weeping Ireland that her independence 
was no more, that her guilt-stained parliament had done 
its hateful and suicidal work, and that the union of Great 
Britain and Ireland was now complete and inseparable, 
so far, at least, as English power and Irish treachery could 
effect to seal and crown the bond. 

The suppression of the rebellion of 1798 was followed 
by a period of prostration and terror throughout Ireland, 
which afforded to the English minister, Pitt, the coveted 
opportunity to consolidate the legislative power of the 
two countries, or in other words, to abolish the Irish par- 
liament and thereby extinguish the last trace of Ireland's 
independence. Indeed, it is plain from the records and 
state papers of this period, since published, that the re- 
bellion itself was fomented and encouraged by the British 
ministry and its adroit and unscrupulous agent, Castle- 
reagh. The proofs of this will be referred to later on. 

During the progress of the machination and plottings 
to bring about the Act of Union, the Habeas Corpus act 
was suspended, and with it all forms of constitutional free- 
dom practically abolished in Ireland. Martial law had 
been proclaimed at the outbreak of the rebellion. There 
was no longer protection for life or property; law furnished 

(170) 



THE LEGISLATIVE UNION. 171 

no security, and public opinion was effectually stifled. 
The press was " muzzled," and public meetings, even 
when legally convened by sheriffs and magistrates, were 
dispersed by military violence. The fact of martial law 
alone suffices to demonstrate the system of terrorism and 
violence under cover of which the baleful measure was 
successfully carried through the Irish Houses of Parlia- 
ment. But this was not the only agency. Another was 
employed which has seldom proved ineffective when Eng- 
land had an end to gain : — the potential influence of 
gold and titles, of bribery and patronage. 

The corruption resorted to by the English Government 
to carry the Act of Union, is the most stupendous example 
of wholesale bribery presented in the annals of any nation. 

Three millions of pounds sterling, $15,000,000, is the 
accepted estimate of the "pecuniary consideration" paid in 
exchange for votes in Parliament in favor of the Union; 
besides this, peerages, judgeships, appointments in the 
army and navy, the sanctuary of law, and even the temples 
of religion were in like manner the subject of traffic for 
the same nefarious end. 

It should be well understood that the Irish Parliaments 
were only in a very limited sense representative bodies. 
Up to the years 1792-3, the Catholics of Ireland were still 
subject to the most irksome and galling features of the 
penal code; though composing four- fifths of the popula- 
tion, they were disfranchised ; the liberal professions 
were not open to any of their faith, and none save the 
humblest and most menial public employments were ac- 
cessible to them. 

The concessions extorted from the fears of Great Britain 
in 1793 made it possible for a Catholic to acquire the 
elective franchise, but the right to sit in Parliament was 
denied him. 

Overtures were made to win over the support of the 
Catholics of Ireland to the Act of Union, and the memoirs 
and correspondence of Lord Castlereagh shows that the 
boon of Catholic emancipation was offered by the British 
premier in return for this support. But even with this 
alluring bait held out to them, the great body of the Cath- 



172 ATTEMPTS TO WIN OVEK THE CATHOLICS. 

olics loyally adhered to the cause of Irish legislative in- 
dependence. In the end the Minister accomplished his 
aim, but he succeeded solely by the employment of the 
most flagitious means and by carrying out the most gi- 
gantic system of bribery and corruption shown in Par- 
liamentary annals. 

' As Daniel O'Connell in his " Memoir on Ireland," 
2d ed., p. 28, says: . " The Act of Union was not a bar- 
gain or agreement. It had its origin in and was carried 
by force, fraud, terror, torture and corruption. It has to 
this hour no binding power but what it derives from 
force. It is still a mere name. The countries are not 
united. The Irish are still treated as ' aliens ' in blood 
and in religion. Thus was the legislative independence 
of Ireland extinguished. Thus was the greatest crime 
ever perpetrated by the English Government upon Ire- 
land consummated." 

We proceed to show in a few extracts what contempo- 
raneous opinion expressed in regard to this measure. 

Grattan, Saurin, Plunkett, Bushe, Curran, spoke in no 
equivocal terms on the subject. "Sir," said Plunkett in 
addressing the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, 
<; I, in the most express terms, deny the competency of 
Parliament to do this act ; I warn you, do not dare to lay 
your hands on the constitution. I tell you, that if, cir- 
cumstanced as you are, you pass this act, it will be a 
mere nullity, and no man in Ireland will be bound to 
obey it. I make the assertion deliberately ; I repeat it ; 
I call on any man who hears me to take down my words. 
You have not been elected for this purpose." " Your- 
selves you may extinguish, but Parliament you cannot 
extinguish. It is enthroned in the hearts of the people — 
it is enshrined in the Sanctuary of the Constitution — it is 
as immortal as the Island which it protects." 

The words of Saurin are equally significant. " If, " said 
he, " a legislative union should be so forced upon this 
country against the will of its inhabitants, it would be a 
nullity, and resistance would be a struggle against usur- 
pation, and not a resistance against law." 

Grattan, the foremost as he was incomparably the most 



ELOQUENT PROTESTS AGAINST THE ACT. 173 

eloquent champion of Irish rights and legislative inde- 
pendence, cited authorities without number in support 
of his proposition that the Irish Parliament was not com- 
petent to transfer the legislative authority to the people 
of another country. Puffendorf, Grotius, Locke, Junius, 
Sir Joseph Jekeyl, Bolingbroke, and other noted authori- 
ties in Civil and Parliamentary law, were quoted by Mr. 
Grattan in support of his position. It is embarrassing to 
discriminate between the eloquent and vehement passages 
in this great orator's anti-Union speeches for the purpose 
of giving a single extract. This may serve as an illustra- 
tion : 

"The cry of disaffection, " said he in his final address, 
" will not, in the end, avail against the principles of lib- 
erty." 

Identification is a solid and imperial maxim, necessary 
for the preservation of freedom, necessary for that of 
empire; but without union of hearts — with a separate 
government and without a separate parliament, identifi- 
cation is extinction, is dishonor, is conquest — -not identi- 
fication. 

"Yet I do not give up the country: I, Sir, see her in a 
swoon, but she is not dead; though in her tomb she lies 
helpless and motionless, still there is on her lips a spirit 
of life, and on her cheeks a glow of beauty. 

/ " Thou art not conquered; beauty's ensign yet 

Is crimson in thy lips and on thy cheeks, 
And death's pale flag is not advanced there. v 

" While a plank of the vessel sticks together, I will not 
leave her. Let the courtier present his flimsy sail, and 
carry the light bark of his faith with every new breath 
of wind ; I will remain anchored here with fidelity to 
the fortunes of my country — faithful to her freedom, faith- 
ful to her fall. " 

In his " Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation, " Sir Jonah 
Barrington presents the ghastly and repulsive details 
of the corruption by which the fatal measure was finally 
carried by the meagre majority of eight, and Ireland 
thereby fell from "the majesty of a nation to the degra- 
dation of a province. " 



174 grattan's efforts to prevent it. 

We have dwelt thus long and in detail on this event in 
Irish history, because it is important to make clear to the 
reader unfamiliar with these facts, the circumstances un- 
der which the Parliamentary independence of Ireland 
was wrested from her. Nay, it is all the more important, 
since the chief interest in the subsequent struggles and 
agitation centers around the efforts that were made, and 
are still in progress to win back her lost rights and inde- 
pendence. 

The long struggle maintained for the " Repeal of the 
Union," the efforts to secure " Home Rule," the existing 
agitation for Land Reform and Tenant Rights, all point to 
the same inevitable result — the restoration at least of the 
Native Parliament which was surrendered in 1801. 

CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 

Ireland recovered slowly from the prostration succeed- 
ing the fatal period of '98, and the degredation which fol- 
lowed the union of the two kingdoms. 

The abortive uprising of 1803 under the leadership of 
the gallant and unfortunate Emmet, crushed anew for a 
time all hope of national freedom; indeed the chains were 
rivited only the more firmly around the form of the pros- 
trate, bleeding country — chains forged by English rule 
and Irish treachery. Life alone remained, though the 
people of Ireland were smote down into the dust; they 
hardly dared to breathe, still less, give voice to their wail 
of bitter woe and pain. 

It was only when the question of Catholic Emancipa- 
tion found an exponent and a champion in Daniel O'Con- 
nell, that Ireland gave signs of national life and vitality. 

Catholic Ireland had long been crushed and trodden 
down. 

It fell with the death of Owen Roe O'Neill and the 
surrender of the confederate chieftains and armies to 
Cromwell in 1652; and the last spark of life seemed gone 
out forever when Sarsfield folded the green flag at Lim- 
erick and carried it with his gallant brigades to waive it 
again on foreign fields. 

Throughout the Ions: and gloomy interval — illuminated 



EMANCIPATION NOT CONFINED TO IEELAND. 175 

by no ray of hope, no gleam of promise — it seemed as if 
the dirge which was suggested by another national 
calamity were indeed a prophecy: 

" Ireland! my country, the hour 
Of thy pride and thy splendor is past; 
The chain that was spurned in thy moment of power, 
Hangs heavy around thee at last; 
There are marks in the fate of each clime, 
There are turns in the fortunes of men; 
But the changes of realms and the chances of time, 
Can never restore thee again. 

"Thy riches, with taunts shall be taken, 
Thy vaior, with coldness repaid; 
And of millions, who see thee forsaken, 
Not one shall stand forth in thy aid. 
In the nations thy place is left void, 
Thou art lost in the list of the free, 
Even realms by the plague or spoiler destroyed 
May revive; but no hope is for thee.'' 

The agitation which O'Connell may be said to have 
initiated, and the great organization which he founded, 
resulted, as all know, in wresting Catholic emancipation 
from an unwilling minister and a hostile King. This was 
an achievement of the mightiest import; nor were its 
effects confined to Ireland. It liberated English and 
Scotch, as well as the Irish Catholics. 

At this distant day, and in the atmosphere of liberality 
and unfettered religious freedom in which we live, there 
are few who recall the momentous consequences which 
the concession of this long-denied boon effected in the 
public affairs of Great Britain and Ireland — indeed, we 
might add of Europe also. It electrified the Continent, 
and soon distant America shared the famous enthusiasm 
which moved the Old World, and rejoiced in the emanci- 
pation of the Catholics of the British Empire. 

What Irishman can recall without emotion the thrill- 
ing scenes of the Clare election; and the tumultuous 
popular outbursts that everywhere greeted O'Connell 
and his co-laborers ? It would not be just to refer to 
this period without alluding to the effective aid given to 
the cause of Catholic emancipation by the ecclesiastical 



176 AGITATION FOE REPEAL OF THE ACT OF UNION. 

Junius — the famous " J. K. L." — Dr. Doyle, bishop of 
Kildare and Leighlin; and by the vigorous pen of 
" Hierophilos" whose later well known title of the " Lion 
of the Fold of Juda" distinguishes him as the venerated 

CD 

patriarch of the Irish church — the scholar, poet, contro- 
versialist, theologian, and throughout his memorable 
career the patriot-prelate, Most Rev. John MacHale, 
Archbishop of Tuam. 

THE EEPEAL OF THE UNION. 

Emancipation won; the campaign for the repeal of the 
Union was speedily initiated. The question of Catholic 
emancipation had aroused the nation from its apathy and 
stirred it into life; the prospect of a repeal of the hated 
union enkindled a flame which soon encircled and swept 
over the whole island as by the force of a whirlwind. 
The entire country became, as it were, one vast repeal 
camp. Happily the zeal of Father Matthew — the great 
x^postle of Temperance — Ireland's truest benefactor in 
modern days — had so influenced and transformed the 
Irish masses, that the great repeal movement exhibited a 
character for order and sobriety which was scarcely less 
striking and significant than the great movement itself. 
Europe was moved to wontLsr and admiration by the spec- 
tacle of a people thus united, and showing such remarka- 
ble powers of self-restraint and self-control. 

The resolute, compact and formidable public demon- 
strations in Ireland during the agitation for the repeal of 
the Union have scarcely been paralleled in any country 
before or since. The attendance at the celebrated " mon- 
ster meetings"' well-nigh surpass belief, and the estimates 
given and accepted at the time, seem, at best, extrava- 
gant. 

At Mallow, Nenagh, Cashel, Mullaghmast, Skibbereen 
and Cork, 400,000 to 500,000 at each meeting! 

The monster meeting at the historic hill of Tara, Au- 
gust 15, 1843, is said to have included 750,000 persons. 

The London Times gave an estimate of 1,000,000 as 
the attendance. 

These mighty manifestations of popular power and of 



the "monster" meetings. 177 

popular confidence in O'Connell, who became the idol of 
the people — the uncrowned king of Ireland — prove the 
majesty and force of a united public opinion. 

Ireland became the chief centre and focus of the Enof- 
lish — nay, even of European, attention. Ireland, Irish af- 
fairs, and the Irish agitation, gave the British ministry 
more concern and solicitude than did the foreign policy 
of the Empire and of the rest of the continent. 

Parliament was occupied mainly with Irish questions; 
the press teemed with discussions and disquisitions on 
the pros and cons of repeal, and public opinion was 
monopolized and divided on it. 

There is a significant lesson in the popular agitation 
of those days which has evidently impressed the leaders 
of the present great movement in Ireland; and the warn- 
ings and teachings of O'Connell seem destined to bear 
fruit. First of all, there should be thorough, and per- 
fect union, before which brawling factions must give 
way; and there must be solidarity of purpose in the pur- 
suit of just ends by lawful and practicable means. 

Secondly, there is need of a leader who possesses the 
qualities and character to inspire confidence, and whose 
authority to direct and command shall be universally ac- 
cepted. 

Thirdly : Patience. 

In almost every one of his great speeches O'Connell 
impressed on his hearers the great lesson that moral 
force should always be preferred to physical force, and 
this counsel sunk deep into the hearts of millions of 
brave men ; and the lessons of Irish history since the 
great agitator's death have only served to stamp this 
teaching with a new and higher authority. 

The union of Irishmen was always one of the foremost 
aims of O'Connell, and up to 1843 he had succeeded to 
an extent and degree the like of which had never been 
seen before in the Island. 

Under O'Connell's acknowledged leadership, the people 

of Ireland, up to this were united; they possessed a spirit 

of unbounded confidence in their chief and in each other. 

Divided councils had always proved the ruin of the Irish 

12 



178 o'connell's wonderful influence. 

cause ; " divide est impera " had been England's motto 
from the period of Strongbow's invasion down to the 
present, and in the critical hours it has not failed to do 
England^ work in Ireland. 

6'Connell saw the futility of revolutionary efforts in 
the then existing situation of his country, and he naturally 
shrunk from the alternative of civil war with all its preg- 
nant train of horrors. He believed success attainable with- 
out it,and was convinced that moral force in the end would 
win self government for Ireland. He well knew, alas! Irish 
history sufficiently attests the melancholy cost of unsuc- 
cessful rebellion ; no one better knew the condition and 
resources of Ireland, nor could more accurately scan and 
measure the resources of Ireland's oppressor. 

" What king," says the good book, " going to make 
war against another kino-, sitteth not down first and con- 
sulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him 
that cometh against him with twenty thousand ?" 

As one of the most admirable of Irish essayists puts the 
case: u They who would by force deliberately revolu- 
tionize, must, if true, thoroughly ponder this question, and 
in the great court of conscience they must not only pon- 
der, but decide. England is at peace. England has 
fleets and armies completely organized and thoroughly 
disciplined. England impels all the organic machinery 
of the law and of power. Within Ireland she has a nu- 
merous party, and the most consummate statesmanship 
which would oppose Irish nationality. 

England has a tremendous artillery, both on the sea 
and on the land. Nor is her strength in force alone. She 
has on her side the fears of the timid and the hopes of 
the aspiring; the distinction that allures the ambitious, 
and the riches that bribe the sordid, etc." 

But there was now growing up a new generation in 
Ireland less tractable than the masses O'Connell had car- 
ried along with him in the Repeal movement. 

The Nation, the " Library of Ireland," the ballads and 
the orators, had indeed stirred the masses as they had never 
been moved before. Boys had been growing up all these 
years amid excitement and popular commotion. Within 



THE PEACE POLICY CONSIDEEED. 179 

thousands of curly heads thoughts and hopes had been 
enkindled. As Mitchel afterwards wrote^ " Under many 
a thin little jacket who can tell what a world of noble 
passion was set aglow; what haughty aspirings for them- 
selves and their ancient land; what hot shame for their 
trampled country and the dishonored name of their fath- 
ers — what honest, wistful rage? Ha! if the thoughtful, 
fiery boy, but lives to be a man!" 

The course and teachings of Mitchel will more natur- 
ally fall to a succeeding chapter. The bitter scorn and 
passionate taunts which he poured out against the peace- 
able policy and moral force teaching of CConnell is 
known to every Irishman. 

No writer since Swift had so stirred the country, and 
his famous letters to Lord Clarendon equalled in force 
and savage sarcasm the celebrated Drapier letters of the 
great Dean of St. Patricks. 

It would be impracticable to condense in the limited 
compass allotted to these chapters a fair estimate, or even 
glimpse, of CConnell's genius and character. 

His life during forty years was the history of the coun- 
try. To read the one is to know the other. He forced the 
concession of Catholic Emancipation. He attacked the 
Protestant Church establishment in Ireland, curbed it 
and laid the foundation for Gladstone's great measure of 
Dis-establishment in 1869. 

He was a powerful auxiliary in the cause of Parliamen- 
tary Reform and he strongly urged Manhood Suffrage, 
and the Vote by Ballot. He supported the scheme of Ed- 
ucation which had the sanction of religion and common 
sense. He consistently maintained throughout his entire 
career the principles of Civil and Religious liberty for all, 
without distinction of creed, caste or color. He won Cor- 
porate Reform and the Borough Franchise, and by his aid 
Free-trade was carried in Parliament. 

He opposed " Orangeism," and every form of secret 
societies, as contrary alike to the teachings of religion, to 
reason, and to right principles. 

He strongly denounced absenteeism, even going so far 
as to propose to tax absentee landlords. 



180 O'CONNELL TRUE TO CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 

CConnell long ago pleaded for and demanded a report 
and revision of tjie code of land laws, and the agitation at 
present in progress in Ireland, if adhered to in the spirit 
of current declarations by its recognized leaders, is in the 
main only a reiteration of O'Connell's declared policies 
and teachings. 

But after all, the crowning and enduring works of his 
life are embodied in the paramount achievements for 
which he struggled and with which his name is most con- 
spicuously and prominently identified: Catholic Eman- 
cipation^ and the Repeal of the Union. 

The arrest and trial of O'Connell and the other " Re- 
peal Martyrs" in 1843-4 ; the awful famine-blight which 
swept over the Island in 1845 (which will be alluded to 
more fully elsewhere in these chapters) and the subse- 
quent death of O'Connell at Genoa in 1847, ends the 
chronicle of the later events in a career so memorable in 
Irish history. 

The celebration of the O'Connell Centenary in 1875, 
recalls the world-wide homage paid to the memory of 
Ireland's great popular leader. That fame will not grow 
dim or be obscured by the lapse of time, and the critical 
judgment of posterity. 

THE FAMINE. 

The ominous intelligence now daily flashed across the 
Atlantic from Ireland — " Distress increasing; aid urgently 
needed," — gives a fresh and mournful interest to the story 
of the awful famine visitation and potato-blight of 1846. 

In the autumn of 1845 it became plainly manifest that 
a large part of the rjotato crop — the chief staple of food of 
the Irish peasantry — would fail, though at the time the 
awful extent and consequences of the impending calam- 
ity was not fully realized. 

In 1846 almost the entire potato crop throughout Ire* 
land was destroyed, and the horrible spectre of famine 
shadowed the whole country. 

The public journals chronicled in full detail accounts 
of the progress and extent of the dread visitation. Eng- 
land and the world generally were apprised of it. The 



THE FAMINE VISITATION IN 1846. 181 

destruction of the food of a whole people was a startling 
phenomenon almost without parallel in modern times, 
and the civilized world naturally was moved and ap- 
palled. 

The Catholic prelates and priests of Ireland, the press 
and the public men of the country, early called the atten- 
tion of the British ministry to the danger of the impend- 
ing distress, and the need of prompt measures on the 
part of the government to avert, or at all events, to miti- 
gate the ravages of the famine. O'Connell's last speech 
in the British House of Commons was an appeal, not for 
charity, but for justice to Ireland. 

He stated (1), that famine and pestilence were immi- 
nent unless the government took prompt measures against 
them; (2), that this could best be done by employing the 
people in works of national utility; (3), that the ports 
ought to be closed against the exportation of corn (grain); 
(4), that public granaries ought to be established in vari- 
ous parts of the country, the corn to be sold at moderate 
prices; and (5), that the use of grain for distillation ought 
to be stopped. 

The present English Prime Minister, Lord Beacons- 
field, has thus described the appearance of O'Connell on 
the occasion of his last pathetic appeal to parliament, in 
behalf of the country and people he loved, and had served 
so long and faithfully: 

" When the order of the day for resuming the ad- 
journed debate was read, Mr. O'Connell rose at once to 
propose an amendment to the motion. He sate in an un- 
usual place — in that generally occupied by the leader of 
the opposition, and spoke from the red box, convenient 
to him from the number of documents to -which he had to 
refer. 

" His appearance was of great debility, and the tones of 
his voice were very still. His words, indeed, only reached 
those who were immediately around him, and the minis- 
ters sitting on the other side of the green table, and lis- 
tening with that interest and respectful attention which 
became the occasion. It was a strange and touching 
spectacle to those who remembered the form of colossal 



182 o'cONNELL's LAST APPEAL TO ENGLAND. 

energy, and the clear and thrilling' tones that had once 
startled, disturbed and controlled Senates." O'Oonnell's ap- 
peal fell upon cold and unwilling ears. The government 
adopted a hesitating, pottering policy. Some few grants 
in aid of public works were made, numerous " commis- 
sions of enquiry" appointed, and that was all. The fam- 
ine was not stayed; its ravages and the appalling des- 
truction by famine-fever were scarcely mitigated by any 
of the efforts of the government. It is true the private 
charity of the English people was not wanting during the 
terrible crisis; and the records of the famine years show a 
measure of private bounty on their part that is in striking 
contrast with the niggardliness of the English Govern- 
ment. 

The munificence of the people of America — the enthu- 
siasm with which they flew to the rescue of the starving 
people of Ireland, was memorable beyond precedent. 

Public meetings were held in all the principal cities 
and towns in the United States. Money and supplies 
were lavishly contributed; Congress was appealed to for 
the grant of the use of national vessels to carry corn and 
other food to the shores of Ireland, and the favor was 
promptly granted. 

There was seen the uncommon spectacle of ships of 
war approaching a foreign shore, not to destroy life, but 
to preserve it — their guns being taken out to afford more 
room for stowage of provisions and grain. 

The " Jamestown," a sloop of war, was freighted by 
the people of Massachusetts with 8,000 barrels of flour. 
She sailed from Boston the 28th of March, 1847, and ar- 
rived at Cork the 1 2th of April. The people of Cork and 
vicinity received the officers of the vessel with great en- 
thusiasm, and gave them a soiree in Cork, at which the 
celebrated Father Matthew assisted. 

SPEECH OF THOMAS F. MEAGHER. 

Amongst the earliest ships which arrived freighted with 
corn from New York, was the Victor, Capt. Clarke. He 
was invited with his officers to a dinner in the historic 
pillar room of the Rotunda, at Dublin. At the banquet 



SPEECH OF THOMAS F. MEAGHEK. 183 

in reply to a toast, "The Ladies of America," Thomas 
Francis Meagher spoke as follows: 

" Strange scene! Ireland, the beaten and the bankrupt, 
entertains America, the victorious and the prosperous! 

Stranger still! The flag of the Victor decorates this 
hall — decorates our harbor — not, indeed, in triumph, but 
in sympathy — not to commemorate the defeat, but to pre- 
dict the resurrection, of a fallen people! 

One thing is certain — we are sincere upon this occa- 
sion. There is truth in this compliment. For the first- 
time in her career, Ireland has reason to be grateful to a 
foreign power. 

Foreign power, Sir! Why should I designate that 
country a "foreign power," which has proved itself our 
sister country? 

England, they sometimes say, is our sister country. 
We deny the relationship — we discard it. We claim 
America as our sister, and claiming her as such, we have 
assembled here this night. 

Should a stranger, viewing this brilliant scene, inquire 
of me, why it is that, amid the desolation of this day — 
whilst famine is in the land — whilst the hearse-plumes 
darken the summer scenery of the island — whilst death 
sows his harvest, and the earth teems not with the seeds 
of life, but with the seeds of corruption — should he in- 
quire of me, why it is, that, amid this desolation, we 
hold high festival, hang out our banners, and thus ca- 
rouse — I should reply, " Sir, the citizens of Dublin have 
met to pay a compliment to a plain citizen of America, 
which they would not pay — 'no not for all the gold in 
Venice'- — to the minister of England." 

Pursuing his inquiries, should he ask, why is this? I 
should reply, " Sir, there is a country lying beneath that 
crimson canopy on which we gaze in these bright eve- 
nings — a country exulting in a vigorous and victorious 
youth — a country with which we are incorporated by no 
Union Act — a country from which we are separated, not 
by a little channel, but by a mighty ocean — and this dis- 
tant country, finding that our island, after an affiliation 
for centuries with the most opulent kingdom on earth, 



184 SPEECH OF THOMAS F. MEAGHER. 

has been plunged into the deepest excesses of destitu- 
tion and disease — and believing that those fine ships 
which, a few years since, were the avenging angels of 
freedom, and guarded its domain with a sword of fire, 
might be intrusted with a kindlier mission, and be the 
messengers of life as they had been the messengers of 
death — guided not by the principles of political economy, 
but impelled by the holiest passions of humanity — this 
young nation has come to our rescue, and thus we behold 
.the eagle — which, by the banks of the Delaware, scared 
away the spoiler from its offspring — we behold this eagle 
speeding across the wave, to chase from the shores of 
Old Dunleary, the vulture of the Famine 

If the right of taxation had not been legally disputed 
in the village of Lexington — if the Stamp Act had net 
been constitutionally repealed on the plains of Saratoga — 
America would not now possess the wealth out of which 
she relieves the indigence of Ireland. 

The toast, moreover, to which you have invited me to 
speak, dictates a noble lesson to this country. The ladies 
of America refused to wear English manufacture. The 
ladies of America refused to drink the tea that came taxed 
from England. If you honor these illustrious ladies, im- 
itate their virtue, and be their rivals in heroic citizen- 
ship. 

If their example be imitated here, I think the day will 
come when the Irish flag will be hailed in the port of 
Boston. But if, in the vicissitudes to which all nations 
are exposed, danger should fall upon the great Republic, 
and if the choice be made to us to desert or befriend the 
land of Washington and Franklin, I, for one, will prefer 
to be grateful to the Samaritan, rather than be loyal to 
the Levite." 

The " Macedonian," another ship of war arrived later, 
conveying about 550 tons of provisions. Both ships were 
manned by volunteers. 

The total contributions received from America by the 
"Central Relief Committee of the Societv of Friends," 
were: Money, £15,976 18s. 2d.; provisions, 9,911 tons, 
valued at £133,847 7s. 7d.; 642 packages of clothing were 



MUNIFICENCE OF THE AMEEICAN PEOPLE. 185 

also received, the precise value of which was not exactly 
ascertained. The provisions were carried in 91 vessels, 
the united freights of which amounted to £33.017 5s. 7d. 
The American railroads and transportation companies 
carried, free of charge to the Eastern seaboard, all pack- 
ages marked " Ireland." In fact, the supplies and money 
sent from America were on a scale unparalled in history. 

Some of the older citizens of Chicago can recall the 
public meeting held in this city in the summer of 1847, 
in aid of the Irish famine sufferers, at which Lyle Smith 
made a speech of thrilling and surpassing eloquence — the 
memory and fame of which alone remains. 

The appalling horrors of the famine years, 1845, 1846, 
1847, will never be fully known, and the loss of life by 
famine and fever (the consequence of hunger) can only 
be approximated. Will it be credited that at one time 
3,020,712 persons were in receipt of relief rations? 

The scenes that are related of the ravages of the fam- 
ine are almost too hideous and revolting for perusal. The 
contemporary journals were full of the most horrifying 
details; whole families found dead in their cabins; corpses 
too numerous to be always coffined flung in heaps into 
pits, rooted up afterwards by pigs; crowds of women and 
children scattered over the turnip-fields like a crowd of 
famishing crows, devouring the raw turnips, and -mostly 
half naked, shivering in the snow and sleet, uttering ex- 
clamations of despair and hunger. 

In other instances villages were found apparently de- 
serted, and when an examination was made of the 
wretched cabins composing it, the ghastly skeletons of 
the emaciated inhabitants would be found huddled in a 
corner on a little filthy straw — the living, if those could 
be said to have life who still breathed — and the dead in- 
termingled under the same scanty covering. 

The artist of the Illustrated London News, in his let- 
ter from Skibbereen to that journal, Feb. 13, 1847, wrote: 
"Up to "this morning, I, like a portion, I fear, of the com- 
munity, looked on the diaries of Dr. Donovan, as pub- 
lished in the Cork Southern .Reporter, to be bright col- 
ored pictures, doubtless intended for a good and humane 



186 APPALLING- HOItKOBS OF THE FAMINE. 

purpose; but I can now with perfect confidence say that 
neither pen nor pencil ever could portray the misery and 
horror at this moment to be witnessed in ShibhereenP 
Another English writer, Mr. A. Shafto Adair, F. R. S., 
himself a landlord of large possessions in the county An- 
trim, in a published volume on the subject of the famine, 
etc., says: "I do not think it possible for an English 
reader, however powerful his imagination, to conceive the 
state of Ireland during the past winter, or its present 
condition. 

Famines and plagues will suggest themselves, with 
their ghastly and repulsive incidents — the dead mother, 
the dying infant, the feast of cannibals, Athens, Jerusa- 
lem, Marseilles. 

But these awful facts stand forth as dark spots in the 
illuminated chronicles of time ; episodes, it may be, of 
some magnificent epoch in a nation's history — tragedies 
acted in remote times, or in distant regions — the actors, 
the inhabitants of beleaguered cities, or the citizens of a 
narrow territory. But here the tragedy is enacted with 
no narrower limits than the boundaries of a kingdom ; 
the victims — an entire people — within our own days, at 
our own thresholds. " 

THE CAUSE AND THE CURE. 

The London Times, under date of 26th June, 1845, in 
advance of the famine visitation, though some then 
alarming distress existed in Ireland, published an article 
on "Irish Destitution," in which the following sentences 
occur : 

" The facts of Irish destitution are ridiculously simple. 
They are almost too commonplace to be told. The peo- 
ple have not enough to eat. They are suffering a real, 
though an artificial famine. 

"Nature does her duty. The land is fruitful enough. 
Nor can it be fairly said that man is wanting. The Irish- 
man is disposed to work. In fact man and nature to- 
gether produce abundantly. The island is full with 
overflowing food. But something ever interposes be- 
tween the hungry mouth and the ample banquet. 



THE SECRET OF CHRONIC IRISH MISERY. 187 

The famished victim of a mysterious sentence stretches 
out his hands to the viands which his own industry has 
placed before his eyes, but no sooner are they touched 
than they fly. A perpetual decree of sic vos non vobis 
condemns him to toil without enjoyment. Social atrophy 
drains off the vital juices of the nation." 

Here lies the secret of chronic Irish misery and dis- 
tress. The Act of Union had crippled Ireland in all her 
resources and effected to paralyze all her industries. To 
eke a subsistence out of the soil was the sole and only 
employment and alternative for the poor Irish peasant; 
and the evils of a monstrous land-system, combined with 
absenteeism, drained Ireland of the capital which under a 
home government and the operation of more benign laws 
would be expended in the country. The rental drawn by 
absentees up to the time of the famine is estimated at 
$15,000,000 annually, and to this add the enormous amount 
drawn out of Ireland in taxes, about $5,000,000 annually, 
from 1800 to 1846, and it will readily be seen that the 
country must be impoverished by this enormous drain. 
Moreover, all domestic manufactures had long been para- 
lyzed or driven out of existence. In 1810 a report drawn 
up by Mr. Ray, Secretary of the Repeal Association, was 
published, showing the decay in all branches of the in- 
dustries which, prior to the Act of Union, had been in 
successful operation — notably the cotton, woolen and silk 
manufactures. 

"In the early part of the present century," reports 
Mr. Ray, " the cotton trade extended itself through several 
parts of Ireland, and was carried on to a considerable ex- 
tent in Dublin, Drogheda, Calian, Stratford, Mount Mell- 
ick, Limerick and Bandon. Belfast, however, was the 
center to which capital and skill were attracted. 

"For all practical purposes the cotton manufacture may 
almost be considered as extinct in all other parts of Ire- 
land." 

It was estimated that over $5,000,000 annually was sent 
out of Ireland for English manufactures, that had found 
an Irish market on the ruin of the native industries. 

In 1798, Lord Chancellor Clare wrote: "There is not a 



188 IRELAND HAD NO POWER OF SELF-DEFENSE. 

nation on the face of the earth which has advanced in 
cultivation, in agriculture and manufactures, with such 
rapidity as Ireland." The bankers of Dublin the same 
year, as well as the Guild of merchants, passed resolutions 
to the effect that: " The commerce of Ireland has in- 
creased, and her manufactures have improved beyond ex- 
ample, since the Independence of this Kingdom was re- 
stored by the exertions of our own countrymen in 1782." 
After the Union all this progress was arrested. 

In 1843 Mr. Kirwan, a merchant of Dublin, made the 
following statement at a meeting of the corporation of 
that city, and the statement was admitted to be correct 
by his political opponents : 

" He recollected the time," he said, " when there was 
commerce and commercial wealth in Dublin ; when there 
was business in their custom house ; when they had ships 
in their docks from Virginia, New York, Philadelphia, 
Russia, Prussia, Sweden and Denmark. Was there a for- 
eign ship to be seen in them at present ? not one ! He 
remembered to have seen 25 ships from the United States 
there. There had been none for years," etc., etc. 

Thus it was that Ireland became thoroughly impover- 
ished, and possessed within herself no powerof self defense 
against the visitation of the famine blight. She could not 
accumulate capital when all the resources of her people 
were carried off to England to pay absentee rents and 
absentee taxes, and to meet the other drains caused by 
unfriendly legislation. 

The remedy lay in a total change in the system of land 
tenure and the concession of Home Rule, or according to 
O'Connell'splan, a "Repeal of the Union." 

OLD AND YOUNG IRELAND. 

But few of those who battled with O'Connell for Re- 
peal remain, and alas! the exiles of '48 are rapidly pass- 
ing away. It is full time that Irishmen both at home and 
abroad concurred in burying forever political passions 
and resentments which so long have divided and weak- 
ened their power and influence. 

The bitter lesson of experience should teach them wis- 



o'cONNELL AND THE U MEN OF '48." 189 

dom. To defame, to malign, to belittle, is peculiar only 
to mean minds and base hearts. 

The genius and talent shown by Irishmen ought to be 
a source of just pride to the sons of the Green Isle ; it 
reflects honor on all her children, and will forever illu- 
minate Irish history. Why then disparage the glory and 
just fame of O'Connell ? The splendor of his genius and 
the renown of his great achievements is of world-wide 
recognition. 

These have passed into history, and if it be natural to 
exult in the recollection of O'Connell's memorable ca- 
reer, it is equally natural that the patriotism and heroic 
sacrifices of the men of '48 should not be forgotten. No 
wonder that their ballads captivated and enlisted the 
youth of Ireland! 

Whatsoever was brilliant in literature, inspiring in 
love, ennobling in art, and captivating in oratory, was 
arrayed on the side of the young enthusiasts. 

The poetry of Moore, and the fascinating fictions of 
Griffin, Banim, and Lover, had prepared the way for the 
new regime. 

Davis's luminous essays and soul-stirring lyrics; 
Mitchel's piercing, scornful invective; McGee's glitter- 
ing rhetoric and stirring songs; Mangan's wierd, fanciful 
chaunts; the sweet strains of " Mary," and of " Eva;" the 
poetic appeals of " Speranza" — but why attempt to reca- 
pitulate? — the genius of Ireland seemed to have poured 
out with unstinted measures all the gifts, and concentrated 
in this party all the talents necessary to inspire and exalt a 
people. Hitherto Ireland had no literature — at least not 
since the far remote period when from the most distant 
parts of Europe, scholars flocked to study in the schools 
and universities which dotted the island in the golden 
age of her annals. Now, as if by magic, her history and 
traditions were taken up by scores of pens ; her songs 
had been but street-ballads or the half forgotten plaint of 
wandering bards; instantly a throng of inspired poets 
gave to Ireland and to song melodies which at once 
charmed and inspired, and which are still sung the world 
over. 



190 REPUBLICAN IDEAS PROPAGATED. 

The arts were invoked and Barry, Mulready and 
Maclise, Hogan and Foley gave to painting and to sculp- 
ture many of the noblest productions of human genius. 
In oratory ! but why recall names and themes ? A 
glance at the text-books in schools and colleges will 
demonstrate how copious and abundant are the proofs of 
Irish forensic renown. 

YOUNG IRELAND. 

In the midst of this popular fermentation, it is not to 
be wondered at that many of the young enthusiasts who 
engaged in the repeal movement, impatient of delay and 
restraint, looked beyond the prospect of mere repeal, and 
dreamed of a complete and entire separation from Eng- 
land. 

Circumstances suggested and seemed even to favor the 
boldest and wildest aspirations. 

The rumbling of the impending revolutions was plain- 
ly heard all over the continent ; kings were trembling ; 
thrones were tottering ; and in every city of Europe 
pens wrote and tongues preached the popular republican 
doctrines and ideas. 

The Dublin Nation, at this time had become conspicu- 
ously the powerful organ of public opinion in Ireland. 

No public journal ever embraced in its service a more 
brilliant or a more distinguished corps of writers and 
contributors than did the Nation when it was guided by 
Charles Gavan Duffy. 

To enumerate them would be to recall almost all the 
names known to the world in modern Irish literature. 
Thomas Davis, James Clarence Mangan, Joseph Brenan, 
Richard D'Alton Williams, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Dan- 
iel Ferguson, Thomas Devin Reilley, Michael Doheny, 
Thomas MacNevin, John B. Dillon, Dr. Antisel, John Sav- 
age, Stephen J. Meany, Rev. C. P. Meehan, P. J. Smythe, 
now member of Parliment and John Mitchel. 

Nor was the fair sex unrepresented in — as may be 
expected — the "Poets' Corner:" witness "Speranza" 
(Lady Wilde) "Mary," "Eva," and others whose literary 
noun de plume will be familiar at least to Irish readers of 
the older class. 



SECESSION OF YOUNG IEELA.ND. ♦ 191 

This galaxy of talent founded a new school, not only 
in literature but in politics as well — a school peculiarily 
and distinctively national, " racy of the soil." 

The Nation thus became the centre and or<ran of all 
that was brilliant in literature, and bold, ardent and even 
audacious in politics. 

Almost every writer was an orator, and there were 
orators as well as writers. 

Smith O'Brien, Meagher, O'Gorman, O'Dogherty, 
O'Donoughue, MacManus, and others too numerous to ;id- 
mit of mention. How they blazed and thundered on the 
platform and at the hustings ! And what magnificent 
phillipics were launched in the columns of the popular 
journal against the English government and its myrmi- 
dons in Dublin Castle ! 

Whilst O'Connell and the orators of the Repeal Assoc- 
iation were careful to inculcate the wisdom and duty of 
obedience to law, and insisted on the force and power of 
moral agencies as a sufficient means to redress Irish 
grievances, and especially to effect the coveted " Repeal 
of the Union," the enthusiasts of the Young Ireland party 
were led farther and farther away from the influence and 
teachings of the great agitator; and soon the divergence 
became too visible to be misunderstood — a separation be- 
came inevitable. 

We do not purpose entering into a detailed history of 
the causes which led to this much to be regretted separa- 
tion; and we only allude to it here because without it a 
resuim of Irish affairs in the years of the great Repeal 
agitation would be visibly and manifestly incomplete 
and unsatisfactory. 

The earnestness, the honesty of purpose, the exalted 
patriotism of the principal leaders of the Young Ireland 
party, cannot be impugned. 

Nearly all of them sacrificed fortune, personal pros- 
pects, liberty, and. not a few of them even life itself (in 
English penal servitude or as a consequence of exile), in 
testimony of their devotion to Ireland. The wisdom and 
prudence of their public course may be called in question; 
their patriotism and devotion never! 



192 •attempt at organized emigration in 1822. 

Nor should the services of the gallant Young Ireland 
party to the cause of Irish National literature be for- 
gotten. While Eugene O'Curry, Dr. O'Donovan and Prof. 
Petrie were delving in the mine of ancient Irish litera- 
ture, unearthing forgotten MSS., restoring, transcribing, 
and translating the venerable and, but for their zeal, the 
hopelessly lost treasures of Irish archaeological literature; 
another more numerous and a more brilliant band of writ- 
ers were engaged creating, illustrating and embellishing 
every department of prose and poetry. 

The " Library of Ireland," alone would be a creditable 
and valuable acquisition to the literature of any country; 
and an impetus was given to Irish authorship by the enthu- 
siasm of the period, the effects of which are still plainly 
felt in Ireland. 

THE IRISH EXODUS. 

Previous to the years of the Irish famine there had been 
a large and steadily increasing emigration from Ireland. 
The potato crop failure in 1822 led to a partial famine in 
the following years, and this was succeeded by an attempt 
at organized emigration. The government undertook to 
direct and superintend this movement, which thus received 
official importance, and the first colony of emigrants in 
1823 were sent out to Canada and settled at a place then 
known as Peterborough, in number 588 persons. 

The government paid the cost of transportation and 
supported the colonists for eighteen months after landing, 
the cost being about £22 or $110 per capita. 

In 1825, the Hon. Peter Robinson, a government com- 
missioner, took out 2,024 emigrants under the same con- 
ditions of subsidy from the government. What was the 
fate of these Irish colonists in Canada ? 

John Francis Maguire, in his admirable work on u The 
Irish in America," thus refers to the Peterborough settle- 
ment as he saw it in 1866-7 : 

" The shanty and the wigwam, and the log hut have 
long since given place to the mansion of brick and stone; 
and the hand-sleigh and the rule cart to the strong wagon 
and the well-appointed carriage. 



THE DEVON LAND COMMISSION. 193 

"Where there was but one miserable grist mill, there 
are nowmills and factories of various kinds. And not 
only are there spacious schools under the control of those 
who erected them and made use of them for their children, 
but the " heavy grievance " which existed in 1825, has 
long since been a thing of the past (an allusion to the 
operation of the unfair school laws of Canada in the early 
part of the century, an injustice long since repaired — 
an example, by the way, which Americans would do 
well to profit by. — Compiler.) " The little chapel of logs 
and shingles, 18 feet by 20, in which the settlers of that 
day knelt in gratitude to God, has for many years been 
replaced by a noble stone church, through whose painted 
windows the Canadian sunlight streams gloriously, and 
in which 2,000 worshippers listen with the old Irish rever- 
ence to the words of their pastor. The tones of the peal- 
ing organ swells in solemn harmony where the simple 
chant of the first settlers was raised in the midst of the 
wilderness, and for miles around may the voice of the 
the great bell, swinging in its lofty tower, be heard in 
the calm of the Lord's day, summoning the children of 
St. Patrick to worship in the faith of their fathers." 

The attention of the British or Imperial Parliament 
was frequently called to the subject of emigration, and 
numerous reports concerning it appear in the Blue Books. 
As a rule all the official reports on the question were ad- 
verse to the continuance of government aid. This was 
true up to the period of the celebrated Devon land com- 
mission, which in 1842 undertook the formidable labor 
of investigating and reporting to Parliament on the then 
existing land question in both countries. 

The report of this commission presented to Parliament 
in 1845, recommended emigration from Ireland as "one 
among the measures which the situation of the occupiers 
of the land in Ireland at present calls for." The total 
colonist and foreign emigration," that is to other than 
British dependencies, between 1831 and 1841, amounted 
to 403,459 ; and the official returns add 25,012 for proba- 
ble births, in transit. 214,047 embarked from Irish 

13 



194 NUMBER OF EMIGRANTS FROM 1841 TO 1851. 

ports, 152,738 from Liverpool, and to these ten per cent, 
should be added for imperfect returns. 

Of those who went from Ireland 76,905 sailed from 
ports in Ulster; 70,046 from Munster; 34,977 from Lein- 
ster; and only 32,119 from Connaught. 

By far the greater part of the whole number sailed 
for Canada. In 1838 emigration was at its minimum in 
Ireland; 14,700 were all that left Ireland in that year. 

The tide swelled afterwards: 

In 1841 the numbers was 71,392 

1842 89,686 

1843 37,509 

1844 54,289 

1845 74,969 

1846 105,955 

1847 215,444 

1848 178,159 

1849 214,425 

1 850 209,054 

1851 257,572 

From the 1st of May, 1851, to 31st March, 1871, the 
the total emigration from Ireland was 2,604,292. 

These figures do not include the immigrants from Ire- 
land to England and Scotland. 

In 1846, from the 13th January to 1st November, 278,- 
005 emigrants arrived in Liverpool from Ireland. Never 
before was such an exodus known in history. It was sud- 
den, startling, unpremeditated, and unorganized. Books 
could be written on the flight of this famine-stricken peo- 
ple, but no human pen would be equal to the task of de- 
picting the truthful story of that melancholy and soul- 
harrowino- emigration. 

It is one of the saddest episodes in modern history. 

Upwards of one million of human beings died in Ire- 
land from the famine and its consequences, fever and 
like diseases engendered by hunger. 

Two millions of Irish emigrants, from 1845 to 1860, 
fled from the land that gave them birth, but in which 
they no longer could hope to eke out a livelihood. The 



MORTALITY ON SHIPBOARD. 195 

cruel laws and the vengeful policies of England drove 
these millions into exile. 

The census of 1841 shows the population of Ireland to 
have been 8,175,124. 

According to the usual ratio of increase, in 1851 the 
population should be 9,018,799, instead of which it fell to 
6,552,385 — a reduction of nearly two and a half millions! 

These were swept away by the famine and emigration. 

The emigration during the ten years from 1841 to 1851 
was 1,436,862 — subtract this from the amount of the de- 
crease shown above and the remainder will be 1,039,552, 
which number must have died of starvation. 

Nor was this all. The mortality consequent on the 
famine emigration must be added, and the startling 
figure of 17-J- per cent, is given as the death-rate on the 
vessels carrying the famine sufferers. 

89,738 emigrants embarked for Canada in 1847. One 
in every three of those who arrived were received into 
hospitals, and the deaths on the passage or soon after ar- 
riving were 15,330, or over 17 per cent. Assuming that 
the death-rate was at least as great amongst the em- 
igrants who went to the United States during the six 
famine years, 1846 to 1852, and the total deaths from this 
consequence of the famine would be 200,668. Thus we 
have one millio?i two hundred and forty thousand deaths 
resulting from the Irish famine and other pestilence 
which followed in its track. 

The mortality on board the emigrant ships was indeed 
terrible, and, whatever the causes the deaths in British 
ships enormously exceeded those in the ships of any other 
country. The " Erin Queen" sailed with 493 passengers 
of whom 136 died on the voyage. 

The " Avon," with 552 passengers, had 246 deaths, and 
the " Virginius," with 476 emigrants, had 267 deaths. 

These facts and figures are shown in the Report of the 
Commissioner of Emigration, N. Y., and by Dr. Strat- 
ten in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal. 

It would be instructive to trace out and indicate in a 
general way the career and fortunes of this vast swarm of 
exiles, who thronged to the friendly soil of the United 



196 MISTAKES OF THE EMIGRANT ON LANDING. 

States and the Canadas. Sufficient time has now elapsed 
since the memorable " exodus " to enable the reader to 
draw some general conclusions from the facts which are 
of general notoriety. 

First, then, the fatal and irremediable mistake of the 
Irish emigrant, after landing was in settling down in 
the seaboard cities, or in the principal inland towns, and 
occupying as his lot the task of a day laborer. 

At home the Irish people, it may be said, are farmers 
or tillers of the soil. Few of them in those years were 
bred to mechanical employments and fewer still had 
opportunity for commercial pursuits. They were natur- 
ally and by training adapted to farm life. Yet the strange 
anomaly appears that with a continent inviting their 
patient toil to wrest farms out of the primeval forests, 
and the more tempting prairies, they allowed the glorious 
opportunity to slip from them and were content to accept 
the miserable and precarious alternative of city life. One 
cannot but be impatient when we reflect on the folly of 
this choice. The tide of Irish emigration from 1846 to 
1854, to the United States, had it been directed aright, 
would have peopled and possessed the states west of the 
Mississippi, and not a few of the states east of the 
" Father of Waters," Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wis- 
consin, etc. 

Prosperity, independence and power would have been 
the consequence. 

It is no merely optimistic view to assert that with this 
result attained, the vexed and ever recurring " Irish 
problem " would have been solved ere this. But, partly 
from the force of circumstances, and in part because of 
foolish and stupid advice too trustfully and credulously 
accepted, and too unwisely followed, the Irish emigrant 
was in most cases content to follow the rudest and most 
laborious employments in the great cities, instead of 
pushing out to the West and taking a farm. 

This blunder was early foreseen and pointed out by 
many Irishmen — notably by Thomas D'Arcy McGee, 
who persisted, in the face of high and powerful opposi- 
tion, in his efforts from 1848 to 1856, to induce the Irish 



THE DUBLIN NATION GIVES IRELAND NEW IMPETUS. 197 

emigrants to settle upon the lands in the west, which 
were then still open to occupation under pre-emption 
laws. 

He pointed out the perils and inevitable degradation 
of city life, and warned his countrymen to not let pass 
the opportunity which then presented itself to " occupy 
and possess the land." 

With prophetic pen he warned them that, "whatever 
we can do for ourselves as a people, in North America, 
must be done before the close of this century, or the epi- 
taph of our race will be written in the west with the 
single sentence " Too Late !" 

THE DUBLIN NATION NEWSPAPER. 

The era of " Young Ireland " may be said to have 
begun with the founding of the Nation newspaper in 
Dublin, by Duffy, Dillon and Davis, in 1842, and to have 
ended with the arrest of Smith O'Brien and his associates 
in August, 1848. 

The works of that brilliant band of patriots, as orators, 
writers and poets, brought a new soul into Ireland — 
placed the tombstone on the grave of " Whiggery " as a 
potent element in Irish politics ; aroused, in spite of rev- 
olutionary failure, the spirit of the country from provin- 
cial vassalage, and prepared the way for 'the men and the 
times that will yet see justice done to the memory of the 
heroic young martyr of 1803. 

The heaviest blow that fell upon the Irish National 
Cause during the earlier part of the " Young Ireland" 
era was the death by fever, in September, 1845, of Thomas 
Davis, in the thirty-first year of his age. This brilliant 
gentleman was of Welsh descent and was born in Mallow, 
Cork County, in 1814. He received a thorough educa- 
tion, but did not develop any particular talent until about 
the middle of 1843, when suddenly he burst into song 
such as Ireland's heart had not been stirred by since the 
harp of Drennan was broken in 1798. 

Nor was the genius of Davis confined to song alone. 
In prose, as in poesy, he was equally happy, lucid and 
fascinating. Around him clustered that band of splendid 



198 DEATH OF THOMAS DAVIS. 

enthusiasts who made the columns of the Dublin Nation 
the most classic in Europe, and whose truth and devotion, 
for the most part, have made their names household 
words to the Irish people of their own and this genera- 
tion. 

When Davis died, O'ConnelPs influence in British and 
Irish politics was already on the wane. The old giant of 
agitations was sinking wearily to his long repose, and 
the famine-cloud, laden with pestilence and death, had 
begun to form in the horizon of Connaught and south- 
western Munster. O'Connell saw the disaster approach- 
ing, but could devise no means of averting it. He lived 
to see the "civilized" government of Lord John Russell 
take advantage of the famine to reduce the Irish popu- 
lation, by starvation and exodus, from eight and a half 
to little more than seven millions ; and then, spent with 
age and grief and toil, the old Tribune sought the shores 
of Italy, hoping to reach the Vatican, but died in Genoa 
in May, 1847. His death occasioned a blank that many 
years have not seen filled. Possessed of great gifts — the 
most powerful popular orator of any age — he was alas! 
defective in political sagacity. 

The turning point of his career was his backdown be- 
fore the proclamation of Lord De Grey, in 1843, when the 
Clontarf monster meeting was forbidden. His vacilla- 
tion on that occasion sealed, for that time, the fate of the 
Irish people; broke his own influence and handed him 
and Ireland over to the tender mercies of the British 
government. No amount of slaughter that might have 
followed defiance of the government at Clontarf could 
have equaled the horrible mortality that subsequently 
came upon the Irish nation through the agency of a 
famine which England coolly allowed to settle the ques- 
tion of her supremacy in Ireland. 

After the death of Davis, his place in the Nation, so 
far as the editorial business went, was supplied by John 
Mitchel, a young Unitarian from Derry, who, although 
not a Celt by blood, seemed to have concentrated in his 
nature all the hatred ever borne to England by " Shane 
the Proud," of Tyrowen, or " Red Hugh," of Tyrconnel. 



THE IRISH CONFEDERATION OF '48. 199 

The tone of his writings went home to Ireland's heart 
and before many months he had the Nation involved in 
a state prosecution because of a most ingenious and cov- 
ertly warlike article on the use of railways as a military 
factor, written in reply to some boastings of the English 
press. 

SECESSION FROM THE REPEAL ASSOCIATION. 

In July, 1846, occurred the secession of " Young " 
from " Old " Ireland in Conciliation hall. O'Connell, 
who appeared to have a childish abhorrence of revolution, 
caused a series of resolutions " abhorring and stigmatiz- 
ing" violent means, in all lands and at all times, to be 
introduced before a general meeting of repealers. His 
son, John, who was in no way worthy of his sire, brought 
matters to a crisis, and after a debate in which Thomas 
Francis Meagher, then a mere youth, won immortality as 
an orator, Smith O'Brien, Mitchel, Duffy, Dillon, Mea- 
gher and others, quitted Conciliation hall never again to 
enter it. 

THE IRISH CONFEDERATION OF '48. 

From that hour "Old Ireland " ceased to be a vital 
consideration in Irish affairs, and the rival party, forming 
the " Irish Confederation " rallied around it every ele- 
ment in the Island that looked beyond agitation as a 
means of national deliverance. One of " Young Ire- 
land's" poets announced the programme in these words: 

There's not a man in all the land 

Our country now can spare — 
The strong- man with his sinewy hand 

The weak man with his prayer; 
No whining tone of mere regret, 

Young Irish bards, for you; 
But let your songs teach Ireland yet 

What Irishmen should do. 

The career of the Irish confederation was brief and bril- 
liant. If eloquence such as has not thrilled the island 
since the days of Grattan could have conquered the Eng- 
lish legions, the orations of young Meagher would have 
vanquished them. In this line of warfare, that radiant 



200 JOHN MITCHELL GROWS IMPATIENT. 

orator was ably seconded by Richard O'Gorman, Jr., 
Michael Doheny,Thomas D'Arcy McGee, and Father John 
Kenyon, parish priest of Templederry in Tipperary. 
McGee's subsequent career did not, unhappily, vouch for 
the sincerity of his youth, but all others mentioned either 
"died in the harness" or else live to ponder over the 
vicissitudes of a patriot life. 

Mitchel, Gavan Duffy and John B. Dillon were the 
chief prose writers of that epoch, while John O'Hagan 
(" Sievegullion"), Michael Joseph Barry, J. De JeanFra- 
zer, Denis Florence McCarthy, and occasionally, Duffy, 
fired the popular heart with bardic strains. 

Meanwhile, the famine grew daily more deadly, and 
John Mitchel — ever impatient and honest — grew tired of 
agitation. He differed essentially from Smith O'Brien 
and Gavan Duffy in this : He declared openly that in- 
stead of saying to the people " Agitate ! Agitate !" he 
would say " Arm ! Arm !" 

This produced still another secession. Mitchel re- 
signed his position on the Nation, and ceased to be a 
member of the confederation for whose existence he no 
longer saw any use. He was followed by three spirits of 
his own kind — John Kenyon, Thomas Devin Reilly, and 
John Martin. By their exertions the United Irishman 
was established in Dublin, and never before or since did 
the English government have such plain truth hurled at it 
on Irish soil. Mitchel utterly denied the right of England 
to rule Ireland at all — abused the Lord Lieutenant in un- 
qualified terms, advocated separation and recommended 
pikes and vitriol as means of emancipation from the 
foreign yoke. Clubs were formed in nearly all the prin- 
cipal towns, and drilling was secretly practised in most of 
them. This was in the spring of 1848, at a time when 
the peasantry of Ireland had been more than decimated 
by the famine, and when those that survived had their 
native valor crushed out of them by misfortunes which 
have no parallel. 

Soon, the force of circumstances — notably the French 
revolution which dethroned Louis Philippe — hurried 
O'Brien, Meagher, and the rest of the confederates into 



MITCHEL CONVICTED OF TREASON-FELONY. 201 

the same line with Mitchel. The latter was for imme- 
diate action, while his friends thought it better to wait 
until the harvest was gathered before appealing to arras. 
The government did not intend to be caught napping, 
and so, in March, 1848, O'Brien, Meagher, and Mitchel 
were arrested and tried for sedition. The two former 
were acquitted, but Mitchel whose " trial " did not take 
place until May, was convicted under the " Treason-fel- 
ony " act, rushed through both houses, for the special 
purpose of convicting him, within thirty-six hours. Be- 
fore sentence of transportation beyond the seas, for four- 
teen years, was passed upon him, he delivered from the 
dock a brief, but memorable speech, in which, among 
other pregnant things, he declared that British " law " in 
Ireland was based upon "packed juries, partisan 
judges, and perjured sheriffs. " He hoped the people 
would make an attempt to rescue him, and so precipitate 
the revolution. So they would have done, but were un- 
wisely, as it turned out, restrained by O'Brien and the 
rest, who thought that " the time " had not yet come. 
That ended the hope of a gallant revolt, which might have 
bloodily redeemed the errors of both old and young Ire- 
land, even though the people, like the Hungarians a year 
later, had been trampled down, for that time, by foreign 
hoofs and slaughtered by foreign bayonets. Mitchel was 
sent beyond the ocean, and with him fled the military 
spirit of " the most unfortunate of nations." 

SUSPENSION OF THE HABEAS CORPUS ACT. 

In July the habeas corpus act having been cunningly 
suspended, O'Brien and his friends, when too late, took 
the field. Only one encounter of any note took place — 
that at Ballingarry Tipperary, under O'Brien, with the 
constabulary as opponents. The latter retreated to a 
strong farm house, situated on a rising ground, and from 
cover easily defeated the almost unarmed people. 
O'Brien, Terence Bellew McManus and James Stephens — 
then a mere lad — showed cool courage during the attack, 
but all was in vain. Meagher was in another part of the 
country at the time. Stephens was badly wounded, but 



202 THE YOUNG IEELAND CHIEFS BANISHED. 

was carried to the mountains by the peasantry and con- 
cealed until his recovery enabled him to escape to France. 

In August, O'Brien, Meagher, McManus and O'Don- 
oghue were arrested in Tipperary, and in October of the 
same year were tried at Clonmel, convicted of high treason, 
and sentenced to be "hanged, drawn and quartered," in 
the old barbaric fashion. 

This horrible sentence would have, no doubt, been car- 
ried into effect, had not Gen. Charles Napier published a 
letter which showed that members of the Russell minis- 
try, including the Premier himself, had been implicated 
in the treasonable attempt to seduce the army from its 
allegiance and march on London to force reform in 1832. 

This document had the desired effect, and Parliament 
modified the sentence ot the four patriots by reducing it 
from the death-penalty to transportation for life to the pe- 
nal settlements of Australia. 

BANISHMENT OF THE LEADEES. 

The banishment of the Young Ireland Chiefs already 
mentioned, not to speak of John Martin and Kevin 
Isodore O'Doherty, who shared the same fate, and the 
flight of all the others, except Duffy, left the nation vir- 
tually headless. After a " fitful fever " of fifty years, 
the tranquility of political death succeeded, and Lord 
Russell stood triumphant as the greatest conqueror, by 
dastardly methods, of " the Irish difficulty." 

Of the then brilliant poetesses of the old Nation, 
" Eva," who subsequently became the bride of O'Dogh- 
erty, alone retained some of the fire which used to 
inflame the island in former years. "Speranza" and 
" Mary" were stricken dumb by the mortification of utter 
and inglorious defeat. The spring of 1850 found "Eva " 
uttering in the Freeman the following rythmical proph- 
ecy in reference to the exiles of 1848: 

Our true men! Our true men ! 

We proudly sing them all, 
In captive's chain across the main, 

Despite of Britain's thrall; 
Our true men — our true men, 

We do not fear to tell 



MOVEMENT FOE TENANT EIGHT. 203 

How deep within our inmost souls 
They and their treason dwell! 

Our true men! our few men — 

They only wa]ked the way 
Where right of yore led some before, 

And more will pride to-day. 
Our true men ! our true men 

Perchance, like you, to fail, 
But others then will fill the van 

And still the struggle hail! 

Charles Gavan Duffy and Frederick Lucas attempted, 
in alliance with Sharman Crawford, to get tenant rio-ht 
for the people, but after an arduous struggle, in and out 
of parliament, the whole movement failed ignominious- 
ly, developing the basest treason in some of the " consti- 
tutional " champions of tenant reform. The typical 
traitor of that epoch was one William Keogh — a lawyer 
by profession — a man of superior talents,°but entirely 
destitute of conscience or common honesty. He became 
a Judge of the Circuit in Ireland and was the most ex- 
ecrated man that wore the ermine since the days of Nor- 
burry. At length retribution overtook him, and after 
nearly murdering his valet, he died in a lunatic asylum a 
raving maniac. Irish grass ought to refuse to grow above 
the earth which his dust contaminates. 
^John Sadlier, "the suicide banker," was a cronv of 
Keogh's, and a co-partner in his treason. His memory, 
as the robber of widows and orphans who trusted him 
with their savings, smells to heaven. He met, by his own 
hand, a fitting death. He was as great a rascal, but less 
of a physical coward than Keogh. Ireland and the world 
at large are well rid of both. 

Gavan Duffy, who, with all his fine qualities, had al- 
ways a touch of weakness in his composition, left Ireland 
in 1853, saying that her cause was "dead as a corpse on 
the dissecting table." He made his home in Australia, 
interested himself in colonial affairs, and became a Min- 
ister of State. He was subsequently knighted, but the 
" Sir " prefixed to his name by the act of the Crown of 
England, obliterated his services from the record of the 



204: STEPHENS ORGANIZES A SECRET SOCIETY. 

Irish people. They never forgive a man who, once a 
patriot, accepts honors of any kind at the hands of the 
national enemy. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE PHCENIX SOCIETY. 

For some years after the desertion of Duffy, Ireland, 
with the exception of a sickly agitation of a semi-religious 
nature, lay supine, and England hoped she had heard the 
last of her ancient foe. But the policeman's bullet at 
Ballingarry, in 1848, missed the life of James Stephens, 
who returned secretly from France, where he had learned 
from Poles, Italians and Hungarians, the art of conspiracy, 
and proceeded to organize the Phoenix Society, with the 
object of total separation from England, in the north of 
Ireland. In some unfortunate way the secret was re- 
vealed to the government, and a couple of miserable in- 
formers in Cork and Kerry " sold the pass " on their asso- 
ciates. O'Donovan Rossa — a man of much energy and 
doggedness, but of little polish or tact — was the chief 
victim. O'Sullivan, Agreem, in Kerry, was convicted and 
sentenced to a term of transportation, which was after- 
wards commuted to an agreed withdrawal from British 
territory. O'Donovan Rossa and others were allowed to 
plead guilty, by advice of counsel, and retire to America, 
where, it is almost needless to say, they continued the . 
conspiracy in another form. 

The Phoenix fiasco did not deter Stephens from pro- 
ceeding. He was a man of dauntless determination and 
of unbounded resources. The chief defect of his char- 
acter was an egotistical tendency toward absolutism — a 
characteristic that worked well enough with the ignorant, 
but which did not serve him with the more enlightened. 
Slavish obedience invariably won his favor, and the final 
regret was that he took into his confidence many design- 
ing knaves who, in after times, did not scruple to sell him 
and the cause to the authorities of Dublin castle. 

THE IRISH PEOPLE NEWSPAPER THE FENIANS. 

In 1863, with the establishment of the Irish People^ 
revolution found an organ once more on the soil of Ire- 



THE AMERICAN ORGANIZATION. 205 

land. The publication was inspired by Stephens, and 
had for contributors such men as Thomas Clarke Luby, 
O'Donovan Rossa, Charles J. Kickham and John O'Leary. 
Under the name of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 
the secret organization continued to develop, fed by con- 
tributions from the American branch, of which John 
O'Mahony, another of the men of 1848, was president or 
head-centre — until, in September, 1865, the office of the 
Irish People was seized in Dublin, and all the prominent 
leaders, except Stephens himself, captured. He eluded 
the vigilance of the detectives for about a month, when he 
too was captured in his own house outside the city, and 
locked up in Richmond Bridewell. On the 25th of No- 
vember, 1865, he electrified the three kingdoms by mak- 
ing his escape from the prison, assisted by J. J: Breslin, 
the hospital warden, and by Daniel Byrne, the night- 
watchman and turnkey, both of whom, as well as Steph- 
ens, are now in New York. He remained concealed at 
lodgings in Dublin for several months, and after a series 
of astonishing adventures, reached France, whence he sub- 
sequently came to the United States. 

In the meantime the American organization had 
become formidable, chiefly owing to the close of the 
civil war which released from service tens of thousands 
of Irish officers and soldiers eager to fight for Ireland. 

All went well until after the Philadelphia convention 
of November, 1865, when O'Mahony and the " Senate " 
had a dispute in respect to policy, and this dispute led to 
a secession, the results of which proved disastrous to 
both parties. O'Mahoney was a thoroughly honest man, 
but lived in the past a good deal, and his slow methods 
did not suit the hotter blood of the secessionists, led by 
such men as Michael Scanlan, William R. Roberts, P. W. 
Dunne, E. L. Carey and James W. Fitzgerald. The 
latter were honest in their convictions, too, but there was 
no chance of an agreement between them. The " Sen- 
ate," led by William R. Roberts and Gen. Thomas 
Sweeney — a distinguished Irish-American officer — pro- 
posed an invasion of Canada. This plan was bitterly 
opposed by O'Mahoney and his followers, and the hitherto 



206 FENIAN RAID INTO CANADA. 

powerful Brotherhood split hopelessly into two factions. 
Both hated England furiously, and, let it be uttered with 
sadness, both were for a time laden with animosity 
toward each other. 

Stephens came over in 1866, but owing to his consti- 
tutional despotism, failed to fill the breach. Sweeney 
made his attempt on Canada, well planned but badly 
managed, in May, 1866, and failed. A brilliant engage- 
ment took place on June 2 at a place called Limestone 
Ridge, in Upper Canada — a few miles from Buffalo — be- 
tween Col. John O'Neill, with 500 men, and the Cana- 
dian Volunteers, 1,400 strong, under Col. Booker. The 
latter were defeated with a loss of three officers and 93 
men killed and wounded. O'Neill lost one officer and 9 
men killed, and two officers and 23 men wounded. As 
he was threatened by a superior force of regular troops, 
and remained unsupported, he effected his retreat to the 
Niagara river, and in attempting to re-cross that stream, 
was arrested, with all his men, by the United States au- 
thorities, before whom he had a nominal trial, which 
eventually resulted in the entrance of a nolle prosequi. 

Gen. Meade, acting for the United States, sent to their 
homes nearly 30,000 Fenian troops, who, but for the bad 
management of the generals and the unfriendly attitude 
of Andrew Johnson's government, might have made hot 
work for the Canadians, as most of them were veterans 
of the Federal and Confederate armies. 

The rest of the record of 1866 is disheartening in the 
extreme. Chaos reigned in Fenian councils, and the old 
curse of disunion appeared to be more powerful than 
ever. 

O'Donovan Rossa, O'Leary, Kickham and dozens of 
others were tried and convicted in Ireland, and were sen- 
tenced to terms of imprisonment with hard labor, varying 
from life down to six years. The hardships and indigni- 
ties heaped upon the unfortunate men in English prisons 
have since become a theme of horror for the people of 
two continents. 

What followed is fresh in the public mind — the abortive 
"rising" of 1867; the arrest of Gen. Bourke and his 



THE MANCHESTER MARTYRS. 207 

compatriots ; the treason of Gen. Massey and Corrydon ; 
the rescue of Col. Kelley and Capt. Deasy from the prison 
van at Manchester, and the savage rage of England, 
which did not rest satisfied until Allen, Larkin and O'Brien 
forfeited their lives on the gallows, November 23, 1867, 
for the accidental shooting of Sargeant Brett during the 
fracas; the explosion of Clerkenwell, resulting in the hang- 
ing of Michael Barrett ; the total collapse of the move- 
ment in Ireland ; O'Neill's ill-advised second attempt in 
Canada in 1870, and its unfortunate result ; the disestab- 
lishment of the Irish church by Gladstone, and the nomi- 
nal revision of old land laws. 

THE OLD CAUSE UNDER ANOTHER FORM. 

Now again, after years of disappointment, during 
which the release of the Fenian prisoners from Queens- 
land by a supposed secret agency was the only brilliant 
exploit; the Irish cause, under the leadership of Charles 
Stuart Par n ell, presents itself in another form. It is 
the legitimate heir of an immortal struggle, and is led by 
a man who is not likely to go out of any movement he 
undertakes unless " feet foremost." 

Mr. Parnell can look back 700 years and see all the 
way behind him nothing but executioners' head-blocks, 
hangmen's cross-trees, and convict vessels. He can look 
forward and, perhaps, see the rift in the clouds that in- 
dicates the coming, after all her toil and defeat and 
misery, of a brighter and nobler period in the history of 
his country. 

ENGLISH INDIFFERENCE TO IRISH WANT. 

The most striking evidence of the antagonistic feeling 
between the English and the Irish people, is the seeming 
heartlessness of the English press concerning the legal 
proceedings now going on in Ireland against the tenants 
in arrears for rent. We need not repeat the story of the 
horrible land-system in Ireland. The owners are mainly 
non-residents, and representatives of Saxon families who 
obtained the land by confiscation, and who spend their 
time and money in England or on the Continent. The 



208 ENGLISH INDIFFERENCE TO IRISH WANT. 

land is, in many cases, if not generally, covered with set- 
tlements of fixed sums, to be paid annually out of the 
rents. The owner inherits the estate charged with these 
settlements in favor of various persons, — brothers, sisters, 
cousins, uncles, and aunts. The residue of the rent, after 
paying these liens, is the share of the proprietor, who, in 
turn, at his death, charges the land with provisions for 
the support of those dependent on him. Land is often, 
in this way, subjected to charges for the support of two 
generations of persons receiving annuities out of the 
rents. To meet these, and to live in the style of a na- 
bob, there is a necessity for keeping the income from the 
rents at the utmost sum. The expenditure of the owner 
is limited to his income from the land ; and, as there is 
not enough land to supply all those leeches, the landlords 
resort to the practice of renting by competition. This is 
what is known as " rack-renting. " A tenant farmer who 
pays $10 an acre rent, and who by hard labor and econo- 
my is just able to make that rent and support his family, 
is met at the next leasing by a notice that the farm will be 
rented to the highest bidder. If the landlord receive 
offers of $15, $20, or even $25 an acre rent, the tenant in 
possession must, though he knows the land in the best of 
seasons will not pay this sum, advance on these prices or 
move out, and probably be unable to get another farm 
even on as good terms. This system of rack-renting, or 
renting by competition, practiced year after year, has 
forced the rates of rent to such a point that the laborious 
struggle of the tenant is to pay the rent and get potatoes 
and buttermilk enough to keep his family from starving. 
If there be even a partial failure of the crop, or if there 
be a partial blight of the potatoes, then there is either 
an inability to pay the whole rent or a chance of the 
family famishing, and perhaps both. 

The crops of Ireland (and also of England) partially 
failed in 1878. In 1879 the failure was even greater, 
and American competition in meats and breadstuffs 
deprived the producers of much of the value of what 
little they had to sell. The loss was general, extending 
to every county in Ireland and to every locality, reducing 



TENANTS COULD iNOT CONTROL THE ELEMENTS. 209 

the whole tenant-farming population, north and south, 
Catholic and Protestant, to a common plane of misfor- 
tune. To the extent of their crop, to the value of every 
bushel of grain and roots, to the money received for 
every pig and beef, and cow, for every pound of butter, 
and for everything that labor could produce, — all was 
given over to the landlord to pay the rent. All that was 
reserved was such scant quantity of potatoes as might 
furnish the family with food until more could be raised. 

The failure to pay the rent in whole or only in part 
was, of course, a reduction of the income of the land- 
lords. They suffered the loss of 10, 25, or 40 per cent, 
of their income, and as their habit of living required 
every penny of income, the default of rent has subjected 
them to inconvenience. They had the "legal" claim to 
their full rent. The tenants legally owed them the whole 
sum called for by the contract. They had the legal 
power to enforce all the hard obligations of that contract. 
In short, the law and the cruel custom of Ireland were 
on their side. 

But while there is no more legal defense for the non- 
payment of full rent this year, there is much to be said 
in extenuation of the default. The tenants could not 
control the elements. They could not restrain the tor- 
rents of rain that during the summer of 1879 deluged 
Ireland; they could not restrain the floods that swept the 
growing grain and spoiled the hay in the field, and even 
washed the root-crop from the earth; they could not 
drive off the watery clouds that for weeks and months 
obscured the sun, poured down torrents, and kept from 
the earth the heat and lio-ht that were needed to warm 
vegetation into healthy life and vigor; they could not 
prevent the fall in the market prices of what they had 
left for sale. The wreck and ruin of their year's labor 
was through no fault or crime of theirs. It was one of 
those calamitous visitations that entitled the victims to 
the sympathy and the forbearance of mankind. Thev 
failed to pay the rent because Nature refused to reward 
their labor with her accustomed productions, and for this 

14 



210 TENANTS EVICTED BY MILITARY FORCE. 

calamity the landlords are flinging them oat of doors 
upon the roads. 

The papers of Ireland, as well as the London papers 
are daily filled with descriptions of the work now going 
on in that unhappy country of evicting those tenants who 
are unable to pay their rent to the last shilling. The 
landlord sues out a legal process, which is placed in the 
hands of bailiffs. This process is the service of a notice 
to vacate the premises within a certain number of days. 
A detachment of armed constabulary — a military police 
— accompany the process-servers. This is the first step. 
The second is, to take a military force and evict or expel 
the tenants and their families from the premises at the 
point of the bayonet. Everything upon the land has 
already been sold off to pay the rent. Now comes the 
expulsion of the unfortunate victims. The practice is, to 
take a whole estate at a time. All the defaulting ten- 
ants are notified at once, and are subsequently forcibly 
evicted as rapidly as the soldiery can do it. As soon as 
the family is thrust upon the roadside the cabin is leveled 
to the earth. The evicted, numbering hundreds of ten- 
ant-farmers and their families in each district, have no 
place to go to. They cannot rent or obtain other land. 
They cannot accept the shelter of other and more fortu- 
nate tenants, because the sheltering or harboring of 
evicted tenants is visited by a forfeiture of the leases of 
the charitably disposed. An evicted tenant becomes 
by Irish landlordism an outcast. Humanity is ignored ; 
the men, women and children may die on the road- 
side, but they are not permitted to find shelter among 
other tenants on the estate^ Homeless, houseless, in 
rags, their last cent and their last piece of property con- 
fiscated to pay rent, without food, they are put on the 
road to perish there, or to wander to the nearest alms- 
house, and there find the treatment provided for public 
paupers. All past experience has shown a heavy mor- 
tality among these evicted people. 

This cruel, merciless work of eviction is now going on 
in various parts of Ireland. Each day adds its hundreds 
to the number of starving, homeless wretches who have 



HEARTLESS TONE OF THE LONDON PRESS. 211 

been unable to pay the rack-rents because of the general 
failure of the crop and fall in prices during two successive 
seasons. The land is covered with the rapidly-gathering 
pall of famine, and the military are enforcing with the 
bayonet the relentless demand for rent from the starving 
people. 

What cannot fail to strike the world with astonishment 
is the heartless and indifferent tone of the London press. 
They publish from day to day the details of these heart-rend- 
ing evictions, and express not a word of sympathy for the ex- 
pelled, ruined tenants; not one word of remonstrance 
against the infamous cruelty of the acts. They cry aloud 
that the landlord is entitled to his pound of flesh. They 
admit that the failure to pay the rents is due to the failure 
of the crops. They confess that the tenants have not left 
themselves food enough to sustain life, but, like ShylocJe 
with his bond, they declare that the defaulting tenant 
must pay the rent or go upon the roadside. The military 
of the British Government is employed to enforce this ex- 
pulsion, and not a paper in London has the humanity to 
utter one word of remonstrance against these cruel, brutal, 
murderous, and wholesale evictions of famine-stricken 
farmers from their little homes — their only shelter. The 
world cannot fail to look with wonder upon the spectacle 
of several hundred thousand people stricken with famine, 
within twelve hours' travel of London, and the British 
Government employing its military force to collect ab- 
sentee landlords' rack-rent, expelling the people from 
their homes, and the English press as silent as death con- 
cerning the devilish cruelty. The English people are re- 
puted to be humane, generous, and liberal. No appeal 
in behalf of suffering humanity falls unheeded on their 
ears. Why, then, does the English press address no word 
of appeal or remonstrance to these Irish landlords to 
stay this brutal work of eviction? Why this encourage- 
ment, by silence, of these eviction proceedings, when per- 
haps a few weeks more will witness how more effectually 
famine will rid the land of its occupants than even the 
Anglo-Irish armed constabulary? — Chicago Tribune, Jane 
25, 1880. . '. 



SKETCHES OF THE LEADERS OF 
. THE LAND LEAGUE. 



CHARLES STUART PARNELL. 

Conspicuous among the Irish statesmen agitating for 
Land Reform is Mr. Charles Stuart Parnell, a mem- 
ber of the British Parliament. The family was founded 
in Ireland, by the removal there of an English clergy- 
man, who was the father of Parnell, the poet, contempo- 
raneous with Pope. A later descendant was, as is stated 
in a recent history of the family, " the last Chancellor 
of the Irish Exchequer." It is said that he received the 
offer of a Peerage if he would cast his vote in favor of 
the act of " Union," but refusing to do so, the loss of 
his high office came simultaneously with the overthrow 
of Irish liberty. In return he received from his fellow- 
countrymen the title of "Incorruptible," — a title higher 
than any within the gift of Kings. Another was Sir 
Henry, a member of Lord Melbourne's Cabinet and an 
earnest advocate of Catholic emancipation — was raised to 
the Peerage as Baron Congleton. Lord Congleton's 
younger brother William Parnell, the grandfather of the 
"Home Ruler," married, in Ireland, a daughter of the 
Hon. Hugh Howard, cousin to the Duke of Norfolk, and 
through her Mr. Parnell is descended from Lord Chancel- 
lor Clarendon. His cousin, Lord Congleton, the present 
head of the family, resides on his Cheshire estate. 

(212) 



MEMOIR OF C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 213 

Commodore Charles Stuart, a man of Irish descent, of 
the American Navy, had one daughter, and at Washing- 
ton this lady met John Henry Parnell, who was traveling 
in this country; the two were married, and at Avondale, 
Wicklow County, the present agitator, Charles Stuart 
Parnell, was born in June, 1846. 

Mr. Parn ell's education was begun at a private school 
conducted by a Protestant clergyman at Southampton, 
England, whence at the age of 11 he was taken back to 
Ireland and placed under a private tutor. Four years 
later he was sent to a private school in Somersetshire, 
England, to complete his preparation for college. While 
pursuing his studies here he was taken down with typhoid 
fever, and lay for weeks almost at the point of death. 
Since then he has never enjoyed the robust health of his 
earlier years. He grew rapidly, and was a tall and 
slender youth of 18 at the time of his matriculation at 
Cambridge University. Before entering the college 
where his father was educated, the latter had expressed a 
wish that Charles should study law, but the proposition 
was not received with favor. The bar had no charm for 
the young man, who declared that he would not care to 
be a lawyer unless he was certain of being a celebrated 
one. As a youth Mr. Parnell showed no particular in- 
terest in the affairs of Ireland, and when he discussed 
Irish politics with his sisters, frequently took the conserv- 
ative side, to annoy them in a harmless way. This humor 
sometimes worried his mother, who, as she declares, has 
an American horror of toryism. 

His serious interest in politics dates from the execution 
of the Manchester rescuers. Their terrible fate, it seems, 
determined him to enter Parliament as a " Home-Ruler." 
After consulting with his uncle, Charles Stuart, who 
then lived in Paris, he informed his mother of this inten- 
tion, which met with no opposition on her part. Mr. 
Parnell's first appearance before the public was made in 
1874, during which year he held the office of High Sheriff of 
the County Wicklow. At the same time he contested the 
County Dublin on the Catholic and National ticket, but 
was beaten by Col. Taylor, the Conservative and Protes- 



214: MEMOIK OF O. S. PARNELL, M. P. 

tant candidate. Mr. Parnell, who had accepted the nom- 
ination in the full expectation of defeat, received about 
one-half as many votes as his opponent. 

ELECTED TO PARLIAMENT. 

The next year he ran for Parliament in County Meath 
against a Tory and a " Home-Ruler," and was returned 
by a large majority to succeed John Martin, the umquhile 
colleague of John Mitchel. In April, 1875, he took his 
seat in the House of Commons, and almost from the first 
provoked the hostility of his Conservative fellow members 
by speaking when he had anything to say, instead of listen- 
ing patiently to older and more experienced men. The 
" obstruction policy," which he introduced into Parliamen- 
tary debates first attracted attention when he opposed the 
Prison bill introduced by the Government, and succeeded 
in carrying certain humane amendments. As he himself 
has often remarked, his system of persistent criticism and 
opposition would never have succeeded as it has, had it 
not been for the obstructive policy adopted toward him 
by the Conservatives. 

Mr. Parnell's father died a few years ago, and his 
mother soon after returned to this country to live. In 1873 
she was visited by her son, who spent something over six 
months on this side of the water. While here he visited 
New York, Philadelphia, Newport, Bordentown, and 
Alabama. His second and last trip to America was made 
in 1876, when, with John O'Connor Power, M. P., he pre- 
sented to Congress an address from the Irish people which 
President Grant refused to accept. This visit was a 
brief one, lasting only about two months. 

Mr. Parnell has, living four sisters and two brothers. Of 
the latter, the eldest, John Howard Parnell, has considera- 
ble property in the County Armagh, in the north of Ireland, 
which has come to him by inheritance ; and he also owns 
an extensive farm in the State of Alabama. The young- 
est brother, Henry Tudor Parnell, who was educated for 
the bar, has recently purchased property in Co. Kilkenny. 
Charles himself has an estate in Co. Dublin and another 
in Co. Kildare. He has recently reduced his rents 20 per 



JOHN DILLON. 215 

cent., while his, brother's property in Armagh, which is 
all leased out, returns at present but little interest. In 
the year 1874, Mr. John Howard Parnell contested the 
Co. Wicklow, and, though not elected himself, succeeded 
in defeating the Conservative candidate, a son of Lord 
Fitz- William. 

JOHN DILLON, 

who accompanies Mr. Parnell in his visit to America is 
a son of one of the most distinguished members of the 
Young Ireland party of 1848. He was possessed of 
considerable property in the County Mayo, and it was he 
who contributed the funds with which to establish the 
Dublin Nation. In 1848 he effected his escape, and 
reaching New York, engaged in the practice of law with 
a fellow-exile, Richard Q'Gorman, who still adorns the 
bar of that city. On the release of O'Brien and John 
Martin, John B. Dillon returned to his native land, and 
afterwards became Member of Parliament for the County 
of Tipperary. He died in 1867. Such was the father 
of the companion and friend of Mr. Parnell. Mr. Dillon 
is quite a young man, of fine presence, and of consider- 
able natural and acquired ability. He was educated in the 
Dublin Catholic University, and took a very prominent 
part in the debates of its historical society. During the 
Fenian . excitement, while not himself a member of the 
organization, he sympathized strongly with its aims and 
objects, and expressed himself so freely, that it is said 
he was at one time expelled by the college authoriti- 
es. The Rev. Mr. Woodlock was then rector, and he 
cannot be accused of any stronger national senti- 
ments than his brother, who holds the very lucrative 
office of Recorder of the City of Dublin, as the gift 
of Her Most Gracious Majesty's Government. The 
differences between the college authorities and young 
Dillon were soon settled. Having completed his studies, 
he afterwards became a member of the Irish bar, and 
has, in a short time, acquired considerable practice. He 
is a close student, and a very fluent and forcible speaker. 
Both he and his brother William, a practicing physi- 



216 JOSEPH BIGGAE, M. P. 

cian in Dublin, have taken a very prominent part in the 
Home-Rule and Land agitations, and are of the band of 
young- men of good parts and literary attainments, whom 
Mr.' Parnell has gathered around him in Ireland. Mr. 
Dillon might be called the member-elect for Tipperary, 
as he has been invited to contest the county by its patri- 
otic electors. His acceptance of the candidacy is equiv- 
alent to an election. It is difficult, however, for a young 
barrister to attend to his parliamentary duties in London 
and make his way at the bar in Dublin. Mr. Dillon, 
however, inherits considerable property, and these are 
times when Irishmen must make many sacrifices for the 
sake of country. Mr. Parnell's hands must be strength- 
ened; the do-nothings must give way to bold, active and 
able young men, and there is little doubt but Mr. Dillon 
will accept; so that one more will be added to the active 
party; and that Tipperary will be represented by the son 
of John B. Dillon, the patriot, of '48. 

JOSEPH BIGGAK, M. P. 

The next man who suggests himself as a member of the 
Active party is Mr. Biggar. He it was who first went to 
the rescue of Mr. Parnell, and who has since been Mr. 
Parnell's most faithful lieutenant, if not most useful ally. 
Mr. Biggar is an Ulsterman, a Presbyterian, and a large 
and successful Belfast merchant. The Observatore Ho- 
mcrno, one of the Italian Catholic newspapers, describes 
him as a " bacon seller " — as if bacon-selling were a dis- 
reputable business. Perhaps the Italian gentleman would 
think more kindly of Mr. Biggar were he a peanut- vender 
or an organ grinder, a member of the lazaroni or banditti. 
Mr. Parnell's first (Parliamentary) lieutenant is member 
for the County of Cavan, the only Ulster County repre- 
sented by Home-Rulers. Though a Presbyterian, he has 
the entire confidence of the Roman Catholic Bishop and 
clergy, and has been endorsed by no less an authority 
than Archbishop MacHale himself. Indeed, there are 
no people in the world, perhaps, more tolerant than the 
young Catholics of Ireland, as has been proved in many a 
contested election, where they have returned a patriotic 



JOSEPH BIGGAK, M. P. 217 

Irish protestant in preference to a Whig- Catholic, even 
though the latter had the endorsement and support of 
the Roman Catholic clergy. 

In personal appearance Mr. Biggar is byno means pre- 
possessing, being small, slight, sallow, and slightly de- 
formed. He has wonderful pluck and nerve, and cares 
not for the opinion of any man, but does what he thinks 
is right and proper. His father, who is a large landed 
proprietor, at one time threatened to disinherit him on 
account of his extreme national opinions, but Joseph told 
the old gentleman to go ahead, that he could make his 
own living. The differences between father and son were 
soon healed, and Mr. Biggar will inherit a very larg-e for- 
tune, besides which he has amassed a considerable one on 
his own account. He is reported to have made up his 
mind to retire from business very soon, that he might de- 
vote his whole time to the service of Ireland. He is a 
positive terror to the House of Commons, being able, at 
all times, to talk against time. This wiry little Ulster 
Irishman talks, talks for hours in the most pronounced 
North of Ireland brogue (far-down brogue it is called). 
The House is impatient. Cat-calls, groans, hootings, and 
cries of 'vide, 'vide, have not the least effect on Mr. Big- 
2rar. He has an inveterate hatred of the do-nothings, and 
has snuffed out two or three of them at,various times. Poor 
little O'Leary, who wants to be known as the Chevalier, 
he annoys beyond measure, by addressing him as Patrick 
CClery. The Queen's County, at his suggestion, adopts 
the Rev. Isaac Nelson, a Presbyterian minister, as their 
candidate, in preference to Mr. Digby, a high-toned Cath- 
olic landlord, and Sir George Bowyer, a kind of lay abbe, 
will be succeeded by Mr. Biggar's friend, John Ferguson, 
another Ulster Presbyterian, of the publishing house of 
Cameron & Ferguson. Mr. Bio^ar has the utmost con- 
fidence in and admiration for Mr. Parnell, and is always 
ready to defend him when assailed. He takes a great 
pride in being associated with his chief as the promoter 
of the obstructive policy, and his purse is always ready 
to back up his convictions. 



218 THE MEMBER FROM MAYO. 



JOHN O CONNOR POWER, M. P. 

The most able ally of Mr. Parnell is O'Connor Power, 
who was elected to Parliament from the County of Mayo, 
despite the exertions of the Catholic clergy, who sup- 
ported Mr. Thomas Tighe, a local landed proprietor and 
a most excellent gentleman. Mr. Power is well known 
in this country, having visited it on a lecturing tour, and 
also with Mr. Parnell, to present the congratulations of 
the Irish Nation on the centennial anniversary of our 
independence. Mr. O'Connor Power is a forcible and 
eloquent speaker, and one of the best and readiest de- 
baters in the House, far surpassing his leader in these 
particulars. He contributes largely to the London 
periodical press. His recent articles in the Nineteenth 
Century and in the Fortnightly Jieview, have at- 
tracted considerable attention, both because of the ability 
with which they were written, and their clear exposition 
of the purposes of the land agitation and the active policy. 
The member for Mayo is a young man, and his future 
promises to be very brilliant. He lacks the self- 
possession and calmness of Mr. Parnell, and becomes 
quite savage at the unseemly interruption of the House. 
He was connected with the Fenian movement and served 
his term in jail for jDarticipation therein. For this he is 
of course, very popular in Ireland, although some of the 
more radical members of the organization in this country 
are not satisfied at his adopting the policy of agitation. 

W. HENRY O'SULLIVAN 

is the tallest man in the British Parliament', being about 
6 feet 6 inches in height. His business occupations are 
of the most varied character. He is a farmer, a hotel 
keeper, and owns a line of cars which ply between Kill- 
mallock and Limerick. Besides he is a financial agent 
for several insurance and monetary companies. He is 
also the principal agent in the South of Ireland for lead- 
ing Scotch and Irish distilleries. His opposition to the 
Permissive bills, introduced into Parliament by Sir Wil- 
fred Lawson and Mr. A. M. Sullivan, who are what the 



W. H. O'SULLIVAN, M. P. 219 

late Mr. Hesing, or the present Mr. Raster would call 
tempranzlers and muckers, has won for him the reputa- 
tion of being a drinking man; but the fact is, that like 
his chief, he is a disciple of Father Mathew, that is, a cold 
water man. A good story is told about Mr. O'Sulli van. 
While making a very fervid speech in defense of the 
rights (?) of the liquor dealers, he paused to moisten his 
lips with a glass of water. Judge of his astonishment 
when he found the liquid to be as fervid as his eloquence, 
a glass of the genuine having been substituted by one of 
his practical joking colleagues, probably Maj. O'Gorraan. 
The house saw his dilemma and roared, but Mr. O'Sulli- 
van went on with his defense of the dispensers of the ar- 
dent. The English newspapers represented the story the 
other way; i. e., that Mr.O'Sullivan wanted whiskey to sup- 
port his eloquence, and found it water. Mr. O'Sullivan is, 
as might be expected from his rather multifarious occupa- 
tions, one of the best business men in Ireland, and has accu- 
mulated quite a fortune, and is essentially a self-made man. 
During the Fenian excitement in 18(35, Mr. O'Sullivan 
was thought to entertain dangerous designs against the 
peace of Her Most Gracious Majesty, and was confined 
for six months in the County Jail at Limerick. His son 
passed two years of probation at the same hospitable 
mansion, which seems ever open to patriotic Irishmen. 
Toward the close of the last Parliament, on the promo- 
tion of Monsell, one of the Keogh-Sadlier gang, to the 
peerage as Baron Emly, Mr. O'Sullivan was elected by 
an overwhelming majority to represent the County of 
Limerick, after the most determined opposition on the 
part of a rather curious combination of Catholic clergy- 
men and landlords. The arguments used against Mr. 
O'Sullivan were of the most novel character. As was be- 
fore stated, he is quite large, and rather awkward. He 
speaks with a rich Munster brogue, and Dean O'Brien, 
thought that Limerick County would be scandalized by be- 
ing represented by a man who could not, on account of 
his ungainly manner and his provincial dialect, be admit- 
ted to London society. Now, if there is one thing more 
than another that the Irish people object to, it is to having 



220 FKANK HUGH o'DONNELL, M. P. 

their members subjected to the demoralizing influence of 
London society, so the priest-landlord candidate got only 
about 600 votes out of a total of 8,500. He was a society 
man. It may be said, in justice to some of the Catholic 
priests, that many of them openly supported Mr. O'Sulli- 
van, and that the Bishop of the diocese voted for him. 

Mr. O'Sullivan, on account of his rather extensive busi- 
ness relations, is not a verv regular attendant in Parlia- 
ment, but is always at hand when Mr. Parnell is stirring 
up any slight unpleasantness, and is one of the latter gen- 
tleman's trusted friends and best backers. 

FRANK HUGH o'DONNELL, 

the member for Dungarvan, is a native of Galway, which 
he represented in the early days of the present Parlia- 
ment; but being unseated on petition, he had sufficient 
influence with the constituency to procure the election of 
his college friend and companion, Dr. Ward, to the va- 
cant seat. He claims descent from the O'Donnells of 
Tyrconnell, who gave much trouble to Queen Elizabeth 
and the English of the Pale. Mr. O'Donnell is a graduate 
of the Queen's University, Ireland, and is one of the best- 
informed men in the House of Commons. He has writ- 
ten some works — principally on educational topics — and 
is a constant contributor to the London periodical and 
(^aily press, contributing principally to the aristocratic 
Morning Post and the philosophic Spectator. Indeed, he 
was at one time sub-editor of the latter-named journal. 
He is also the London correspondent of several of the 
Hindoo newspapers, published in the native language, 
and recently received the public thanks of the editors of 
these papers for his course in relation to Indian affairs in 
Parliament. He is unquestionably the most troublesome 
member with whom the English Ministers have to deal. 
4 His information on every measure introduced into Par- 
liament is marvelous. He knows South Africa like a 
book; his information about Hindostan is as good as that 
possessed by any native; Australia and Canada, the com- 
mercial treaties and government, seem to be objects of 
his special attention, so that when any measure is brought 



FRANK HUGH O'DONNELL, M. P. 221 

forward in relation to any of these places, he is always 
ready to criticise. No wonder the Ministers detest this rath- 
er effeminate and foppish young man, with the inevitable 
eye-glass, who criticises their every measure at such 
length, and with such perplexing frequency. So thor- 
oughly unpopular is Mr. O'Donnell in the English House 
of Commons, that Mr. Knowles, the editor of the Nine- 
teenth Century, was afraid to publish an article by him 
on " Socialism in Germany," although the subject had 
been furnished, and the article accepted, by the editor him- 
self. Mr. O'Donnell published the rather frank letters 
which passed between him and Mr. Knowles, as a speci- 
men of English fair play. He has taken little part in the 
land agitation, owing to a very serious case of sunstroke 
which occurred to him at Bolongue the past summer. 
His prodigious literary and parliamentary labors have 
told on his rather feeble constitution, and he has spent 
the entire winter in Paris, where he has recentlv created 
quite a sensation by the publication of a letter in the 
Republique Francaise. The letter calls on the Conti- 
nental nations to elect a Congress to investigate the gov- 
ernment of Ireland by England; denounces landlordism 
in the bitterest language, and stirs up matters generally. 
The English press are screaming with rage; the British 
Ambassador has asked M. Gambetta, the proprietor, to 
deliver up the manuscript to him, as the letter was printed 
without the name of the author, but simply as coming 
from an Irish member. M. Gambetta has, of course, re- 
fused the modest request, or to reveal the name of the 
author. But everybody knows that the letter was 
written ' by O'Donnell. Indeed, he makes no secret 
of the authorship. The latter is likely to be brought 
before the House of Commons, but that will not deter the 
member for Dungarvan from enlightening Europe, through 
the medium of the press, as to the real state of affairs in 
Ireland. The English have had their own way in that 
matter too long, thinks Mr. O'Donnell, who is very in- 
dustrious, a thorough linguist, and now that his health is 
restored, will doubtless do some good service on the Con- 
tinent, while his chief is pleading the same cause to the 
American nation. 



THE NATIONAL LAND LEAGUE. 



"WHAT IRELAND ASKS. 

Ireland asks that the government of England shall so 
amend her land laws, as to enable those who cultivate the 
soil, and who live on it, to become the owners of the land 
upon the payment of the full value thereof. This was 
done in France under the same condition of circum- 
stances; was done in Belgium, and various parts of Ger- 
many. As to the legal power of the British government 
to make this change in the land laws, and to establish 
peasant proprietorship in Ireland, there is no dispute in 
England. In a recent speech at Edinburgh, Mr. Glad- 
stone, who was not committed to the policy, thus disposed 
of the question of legal power. Here is what he said 
upon the power of parliament over the subject: 

" To a proposal of the kind I am not going to object 
on the ground that it would be inconsistent with the 
privileges of landed proprietors. In my opinion if it is 
known to be for the welfare of the community at large 
the legislature is perfectly entitled to buy out the landed 
proprietor. It is not entitled morally to confiscate the 
property of the landed proprietor more than the property 
of any other man; but it is perfectly entitled to buy out 
the landed proprietor if it may please, for the purpose of 
dividing property into small lots. I do not wish to re- 
commend it, because I will show you the doubts in my 
mind about the proposition. But to the principle no ob- 
jection can be taken. Those persons who possess large 
portions of the space of the earth are not altogether in the 

1 (222) 



EVIL WORKING OF THE TENANT-AT-WILL SYSTEM. 223 

same position as possessors of mere personalty, for per- 
sonalty does not impose the same limitations on the ac- 
tion and industry and the well-being to the community 
in the same ratio as does the possession of land, and, 
therefore, I hold that compulsory appropriation, if, for an 
adequate public object, is a thing in itself admissible and 
even sound in principle." 

IRISH LAND LAWS. 

Mr. J. O'Conner Power, also a member of the English 
Parliament, thus states the oppression of the existing law 
and the remedy sought by the present agitation. The 
statement is taken from a publication made by him in 
the London Nineteenth Century, for December, 1879. 
He thus states the case: 

The main cause of Irish poverty is not to be found in 
over-population, or in any want of energy or economy on 
the part of the Irish people, but in the system of land 
tenure imposed by Imperial conquest. Foreign competi- 
tion and bad harvests — by which, in one year alone, ac- 
cording to the calculation of Mr. Dwyer Gray, Ireland 
has lost thirty millions sterling — have had one advantage, 
and that is, they have drawn attention in a striking way to 
the great evil of the system of tenant-at-will, the most 
demoralizing and degrading to which it is possible to re- 
duce the. working population of any country. It is hard- 
ly in the power of language to describe the many evil 
effects of this system. It has blasted the hopes, ruined 
the .homes, and destroyed the lives of millions of the Irish 
race. It has stopped the social, political, and industrial 
growth of Ireland as effectually as if the country had been, 
in a perpetual state of civil war; and no war has ever 
been more cruel in its incidents or operations toward 
those among whom it was carried on, than the war which 
Irish landlordism has waged against the people whose in- 
heritance it usurped and whose property it has confis- 
cated. " The worst fed, the worst clothed, and the worst 
housed people in Europe," — this is the description which 
every impartial traveler who has seen the Irish people at 
home has given of them. Behold the result of the sys- 
tem of tenant-at-will and centuries of English rule! 



224: IT DENIES PEOPLE THE EIGHT TO LIVE. 

A STATE OF SLAVERY. 

Of the 600,000 tenant-farmers in Ireland, more than 
half a million, representing, with their families, about 
three million persons, have no security in their homes or 
in the business upon which they depend for their daily 
bread, but are at the mercy of a few thousand persons, — 
the lords of the soil of Ireland. Agriculture being" the 
mainspring' of the nation's wealth, the interests of the 
commercial and trading community are naturally depend- 
ent upon the industries of the farmers, and so it results 
that the fate and fortunes of more than five millions of 
people are in the hands of the small section, numbering 
not more than a few thousands. No system of govern- 
ment could possibly bring prosperity to a people so cir- 
cumstanced. Even if they were endowed with all the at- 
tributes of political freedom, their social condition would 
still be a condition of slavery. They are the victims of a 
system clearly incompatible with social rights and indus- 
trial freedom. It may be necessary for me to explain 
here what I mean by " social right " and " industrial free- 
dom." Social right may be defined in words which are 
to be found in the Declaration of American Independ- 
ence, and I w T ould define it in those words, as "the right 
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness "; and indus- 
trial freedom, in the sense in which I use the phrase, is 
the right of the workers to enjoy the fruits of their own 
exertions, and to be safe in the pursuit of their industry 
from the rapacity of their neighbors. There is nothing 
more capable of proof than that the present land system 
of Ireland is opposed to the social rights and the indus- 
trial freedom of the Irish people as here understood. 
When a'people die in large numbers of starvation in their 
own country, or fly from it because they cannot get enough 
to eat out of the food which that country has produced, 
and which is more than sufficient to sustain them, that peo- 
ple are denied the right to live ; and if a people have not 
a right to live in their own land while it is rich enough to 
support them, they are deprived of liberty and the pur- 
suit of happiness. 



THE APPALLING INJUSTICE OF THE SYSTEM. 225 
STARVING AMID PLENTY. 

This is what took place in Ireland during the famine 
of 1846 and 1847. The people perished in the midst of 
food twice sufficient to sustain them, because the food 
they produced had to be exported in immense quantities 
to pay the exorbitant rents of the landlords. Nothing 
could more clearly demonstrate the low standard of living 
among the small farmers, and the small amount of the 
produce they were permitted to keep for their own use, 
than the fact that they were reduced to a dependence on 
the potato as their principal food. When that failed they 
had no resource. The rest of the vegetable food and 
nearly all of the animal food produced in the country be- 
came the property of the non-producing landlord class, 
and was exported to pay their dues. The bare statement 
of these facts reveals at once the appalling injustice of the 
system, bat we must examine it further to fully realize its 
wickedness and the mischief which it has wrought. What 
'can be more opposed to every principle ofwell-doing than a 
system which paralyzes industry, which puts a premium 
on idleness, which fosters improvidence, which generates 
servility, hypocrisy, and ignorance, which shuts out every 
gleam of hope of rising in the world; which entails per- 
petual drudgery and social dependence, and even invades 
the sanctity of the domestic relations? Such is the sys- 
tem of tenant-at-will under which 3,000,000 of the Irish 
people are condemned to wear out their lives. 

It is not in the nature of things that the Irish cultiva- 
tor should be as industrious as the peasant proprietor in 
the Channel Islands or on the Continent, for the former 
wants that which the latter possesses — security. The 
former is liable to eviction at the will and pleasure of a 
taskmaster; the latter is the undisputed lord of his own 
land and possesses " the magic of property which turns 
sand into gold." Mr. Mill well recognized the premium 
on idleness under the tenant-at-will system when he said 
that the Irish tenant was the only human being in exist- 
ence who had nothing to gain by increased industry, and 
nothing to lose by increased idleness. Then there is 

15 



226 PROMOTES IDLENESS AND GENERATES IGNORANCE. 

nothing so well calculated to make a man reckless and 
improvident as uncertainty in his position. It often har- 
rasses the very life and soul of men of the highest moral 
fibre, and must be destructive of all order and economy in 
the lives of those less fortunately constituted. The 
struggling farmer, whose imagination is haunted by the 
alternative prospect of the poor-house or the emigrant- 
ship, has certainly a gloomy existence, bereft of comfort, 
encouragement, and aspiration. The mortal dread of 
the agent's frown or the landlord's slightest displeasure 
still characterizes the tenant-at-will, notwithstanding the 
bracing effects of public agitation, and shows what an 
atmosphere of servility and hypocrisy combined arises 
from the present unnatural condition of rural society in 
that country. But a system which so far taxes the indus- 
try of the people as to compel their children to work in 
the fields when they ought to be at school, is responsible 
for more than the physical misery which it inflicts. It 
generates ignorance, and thereby deprives the people of 
one of the most potent means of self-advancement. 

A DEGRADING SLAVERY. 

The Irish farmer is often obliged to set his children to 
work before they have had time to acquire the rudest ele- 
ments of education, in order to turn their youthful labor 
to account in squeezing the rent and a scanty subsistence 
out of the farm. On some Irish estates, too, a tenant 
dare not harbor in his house a stranger, a poor person, or 
even a poor relative not immediately belonging to the 
family, and the Land Commission recently sent through 
Ireland by the Freeman 's Journal, whose reports ought 
to be read by every one anxious to be acquainted with 
the facts of the present crisis, declares that on some prop- 
erties marriages cannot be consummated without the sane- 
tion of the landlord or his agent ! Surely this is slavery 
of the most degrading, intolerable kind, and the sys- 
tem by which it is upheld, an outrage on civilization. 
The whole history of Irish landlordism is a record of har- 
dened cruelty, without a parallel in the social annals of 
any other nation. Edmund Spenser says in his " View 



IRISH LANDLORDISM A RECORD OF CRUEL BONDAGE. 227 

of the State of Ireland," that the landlords of his time 
"used most shamefully to rack their tenants." Swift repeats 
this accusation in his own day in the following language : 
" Another cause of this nation's misery is that Egyptian 
bondage of cruel, oppressing, and covetous landlords, ex- 
pecting all who live under them should make bricks with- 
out straw, who grieve or envy when they see a tenant of 
their own in a whole coat or able to afford one comforta- 
ble meal in a month, by which the spirits of the people 
are broken and made fit for slavery." And even Mr. 
Froude is constrained to say : " The landlords in Ireland 
represent conquest and confiscation, and they have gone 
on with an indifference to the welfare of their tenants that 
would never be tolerated in England or Scotland." 

In the reports of the Irish famine compiled by the So- 
ciety of Friends, who earned the lasting gratitude of Ire- 
land by their noble and generous efforts to save the lives 
of her people, there is a strong indictment against the 
landlord class for their gross neglect of duty in that ter- 
rible crisis; and it must then be affirmed that landed 
property in Ireland can show nothing in its origin or its 
history upon which to found a claim to the consideration 
of the Irish people, nor can they be expected to extend 
any further toleration to its unrestricted and mischievous 
power. 

Any one closely examining the condition of the Irish 
land classes will discover that, contrary to the general 
rule elsewhere, it is the wealthier classes, the landlords, 
not the tenants, who show the greatest ignorance of 
economic principles. They are, as a class, the most list- 
less, unenterprising, and non-producing section of the 
country, while at the same time they are the masters of 
its resources. See, for example, the enormous growth of 
absenteeism, which drains, directly and indirectly, no less 
than six millions annually out of Ireland, not a penny of 
which ever returns to benefit those by whom it is sup- 
plied. Six millions sterling a year! that is to say, a sum 
sufficient to support 100,000 workingmen and their fami- 
lies — 500,000 persons — in decency and comfort. The 
action of the landlords has been very injurious to their 



228 ACTION OF LANDLORDS INJURIOUS TO THEMSELVES. 

own interests, as well as to those of the farmers; for, 
though the value of property continued to rise steadily 
for many years before the beginning of the present de- 
pression, it would have risen much more rapidly and to a 
far higher point if the lords of the soil condescended to 
abate their feudal privileges, or if they were as anxious 
to perform the duties as they have been to enforce the 
rights of property. Under the present system it is the 
interest of the tenant to put as little into the soil and to 
take as much out of it as he possibly can. Under a sys- 
tem which would give him security in his holding and 
protection against exorbitant rents, the farmer would 
nurse his farm as the prudent merchant nurses his busi- 
ness. He would feel that it was his interest to put all 
his capital into it, confident that it would return to him 
in due time with a fair profit. Thus the price of land 
would be improved by the inducements which such a 
tenure would hold out to every incoming tenant in every 
case where a farmer had disposed of his holding. What 
a mockery of all received ideas of political economy it is 
to see fertile lands going out of cultivation in Ireland, 
and the Irish at the same time leaving their country in 
search of employment! This is not the natural result of 
supply and demand, for it is well known that the Irish 
people are warmly attached to their native land, and 
would never quit it in large numbers if they could man- 
age to live at home. It is the result of landlordism, 
which blights the industry of the whole country, and 
which has during the last thirty years banished nearly 
30,000,000 of the Irish race forever from the land that 
bore them. 

A million a decade! What does it mean? 

A nation dying of inner decay; 
A churchyard's silence where life has been, 

The base of the pyramid crumbling away; 
A drift of men gone over the sea, 
A drift of the dead where men should be. 

Those who cry out against State interfence with the 
tenure of land forget that the present state of things in 
Ireland is the result of State interference. Irish land- 



THERE IS NO ABSOLUTE PROPERTY IN LAND. 229 

reformers only want the State to undo what the State has 
done. They only ask the State to restore the ancient 
rights to the tillers of the soil. The State abolished the 
old tenure by which the soil was held for the benefit of 
those who cultivated it, and al.owed the usurpation of 
the rights of the cultivators by landlords. As the Eng- 
lish conquest extended over Ireland the land system dis- 
appeared. The rights of the cultivators were confiscated 
as well as the property of the native land-owners, and to 
this double confiscation we trace the only title upon 
which Irish landlordism can rest its sacred pretensions. 

THE LAND LEAGUE'S PROJECT. 

The principle which underlies the Land Act of 1S70 
was the well-established principle that "there is no such 
thing as absolute property in land." It is not necessary, 
therefore, to go back on former discussions for the pur- 
pose of enforcing a principle which has found sanction in 
an act of Parliament. Starting from this principle, then, 
let us proceed to consider the proposal put forward by 
the National Land League as the only one calculated to 
effect a satisfactory and final solution of the Irish land 
question. The proposal, stripped of all ambiguity, is to 
ahoHsh landlordism and make the cultivators the owners 
of the soil. This is undoubtedly a vast undertaking, the 
dimensions of which should be fully appreciated by those 
who have resolved to accomplish it. The labor and sacri- 
fice of a whole generation, constantly exerting itself to 
promote this great object, would not be greater than it 
deserves, and the energy of the highest patriotism could 
scarcely be directed to a nobler end than that of bring- 
ing comfort and consolation and security to the humble 
firesides of the tillers of the soil. It is proposed that the 
State should take over the land, giving the landlords 
proper compensation, and settle the tenants upon it per- 
manently as tenant proprietors. This proposal, consid- 
ered in its financial aspect alone, will appear formidable 
to many people, for it is estimated that it would require 
£250,000,000 to carry it out. But no one imagines that 
it can be effected all at once by one financial transaction. 



230 DIFFICULTIES INCIDENT TO STATE INTERFERENCE. 

A loan for this sum of money could not be raised except 
at a rate of interest which would be much higher than it 
could be borrowed, as if borrowed in small sums and at 
intervals. On financial grounds, then, it seems more 
practicable and desirable that the scheme should be car- 
ried out gradually than that it should be attempted to 
realize it in one sweeping measure. Even if the money 
were forthcoming on easy terms, it could not be hastily 
applied to the purpose in view without much confusion 
arising from inexperience; and, perhaps, no little job- 
bery arising from the many interests involved, and the 
desire of many persons to be employed in executing work 
undertaken by the State. 

THE MODUS OPERANDI. 

Many difficulties incident to State interference in a 
work of this kind would be removed or considerably di- 
minished by gradual operations which would give time to 
have the character of each step taken tested by its re- 
sults; and on social grounds it seems not less desirable 
that the transfer of the owncrshio of the soil from a Km- 
ited number to the great body of the people should be 
only gradually accomplished, /it is evident from the terms 
of a resolution passed at the first meeting of the National 
Land League that its modus operandi is designed to lead 
gradually to the object in view, — the establishment of an 
occupier proprietary. This resolution declares: " That 
the objects of the League can be best attained (1), by 
promoting organization among the tenant farmers; (2), by 
defending those who maybe threatened with eviction for 
refusing to pay unjust rents; (3), by facilitating the work- 
ing of the Bright clauses of the Land act; and (4), by ob- 
taining such a reform in the laws relating to land as will 
enable every tenant to become the owner of his holding 
by paying a fair rent for a limited number of years.}/ It 
only remains then to push forward with the utmost en- 
ergy those minor reforms framed to mitigate the evils of 
the existing system, such as the abolition of all artificial 
restrictions on the sale and transfer of land, the abolition 
of the laws of primogeniture and entail, the more efficient 



ADVANTAGES OF A PEASANT PROPKIETATtY. 231 

working of the Bright clause of the Land act, and the re- 
clamation and distribution of the waste lands, while keep- 
ing steadily in view the main object of emancipating the 
entire agricultural population from the power of land- 
lordism. Large as the sum of money is which would be 
required to buy out the Irish landlords, the proposal to 
raise it should not excite the unreasonable indignation 
exhibited in some quarters; we know not how soon the 
Government may involve us in a war with Russia, which 
might cost that amount without doing one-hundreth part 
as much good, assuming it to be just and necessary, as 
the dis-establishment of Irish landlords would eifect. 

ADVANTAGES OF A PEASANT PKOPEIETAEY. 

The advantages of a peasant proprietary over the system 
of landlord and tenant are being admitted more and 
more every day. The industrious application and thrifty 
management of the small owners of land in the Channel 
Islands, in France and Prussia, in Belgium, Holland, 
Switzerland, and Norway, are the admiration of all who 
have made themselves acquainted with rural life and 
labor in those countries. If we would see the brightest 
examples of cheerful, uncomplaining toil, we must visit 
those lands in which the husbandman is to be found, with 
his sons and daughters, cultivating his patch of land in 
the security of independent ownership. In those coun- 
tries we shall find a comfortable and prosperous, if not 
wealthy, agricultural class, who are the best friends of 
social order and the bulwarks of national defense in 
every national emergency. Into such materials as these 
it is the ambition of Irish land-reformers to convert the 
masses of the Irish people who live by the cultivation of 
the soil. A great change in the social structure of Ire- 
land is needed. No one who knows Ireland as it is can 
say that the social condition of the country is satisfactory. 
The gulf between enormous wealth and abject poverty is 
wider there than in any other part of Europe, and the 
enormously wealthy are only a few, while the abjectly 
poor are counted by millions. It is urged against the 
proposal of the Land League that it would involve the 



232 SPEECH OF MICHAEL DAVITS'. 

destruction of the aristocracy, and that it is necessary to 
preserve their power as a counteracting force against 
democracy, which, in the absence of the landlord class, 
might attain uncontrolled supremacy. Those who take 
this view are evidently alarmed, and, as they must be 
anxious to make landlordism tolerable to the Irish peo- 
ple, they are not likely to contend any longer against 
the abolition of the arbitrary power of eviction and rack- 
renting. I cannot, however, admit that the accumula- 
tion of land in the hands of a few is indispensable to the 
preservation of a powerful upper class in any country, 
assuming such to be necessary. We shall always have 
A^arying social grades, some higher and some lower than 
the rest, and the highest duty of statesmanship is to 
endeavor to do justice to all. The power of landlordism, 
as it exists in Ireland, rests on a basis of injustice, and 
therefore it is doomed. 

THE AEKESTS IIST IRELAND. 

Upon the first meetings being held in Ireland, the 
British government ordered the arrest of certain speak- 
ers who were charged with sedition. One of these was 
Michael Davitt, and from the London Times of Novem- 
ber 29, we take the following report of Davitt's language, 
on which the charge of treason and sedition is founded : 

" Why are we here to-day, on the Monday of the nine- 
teenth century of civilization, protesting against an im- 
moral system of land laws that has been swept away 
from the path of every other civilized people ? I say 
this is a question we should put to ourselves to-day, and 
we should give no indefinite answer. But, if it is true, I 
deny that you should draw upon that in this year, with 
impending famine and dire misfortune before us, in order 
to satisfy the greed and avarice of the landlords. If you 
have it, then I say look first to the necessity of your 
children, of your wives, and of your homes. If you' 
have a charitable disposition to meet the wants of the 
landlord, give him what you can spare, and give him no 
more. 

"I am one of those peculiarly constituted Irishmen who 



SPEECH OF MICHAEL DAV1TT. 233 

belie ve that rent for land in any circumstances, prosper- 
ous times or bad times, is nothing more nor less than an 
unjust and immoral tax upon the industry of a people, 
and I further believe that landlordism as an institution is 
an open conspiracy against the well-being, prosperity, 
and happiness of a people ; and I say that anything that 
is immoral, whether it be a rem or an open conspiracy 
of landlordism, has to be crushed by the people who suf- 
fer in consequence of it. 

" Look at it from a purely commercial point of view, and 
how does it operate against the people in the country? Say 
that the 600,000 farmers in Ireland earn on an average 
£1, 10s each week, and some earn a great deal less. How- 
ever, we will put £1, 10s as the average weekly earnings 
of the farmers of Ireland, and that would produce an ag- 
gregate sum of about £45,000,000 a year earned by 600,- 
000 farmers in Ireland. Of that sum of £45,000,000, how 
much do you think 3,000 individuals, called landlords, 
exact for themselves every year? Mind, 3,000 — about 
one-third the number of persons present at this meeting. 
Well, the 3,000 Irish landlords pocket the neat sum of 
£20,000,000, or nearly half the entire earnings of the 
600,000 Irish farmers. But not only that. Not a single 
one of them ever puts a foot to plow or hand to spade to 
earn a penny of it. The farmers must labor from morn 
till eve to support themselves and their children, when 
in steps the lazy, unproductive landlord, and demands 
almost half the money so earned to sustain himself in the 
licentious and voluptuous life he very often leads — not in 
Ireland, but away in London, Paris, and elsewhere. Not 
only does this system rob you of half your earnings, but 
it robs Ireland, it impoverishes Ireland, and goes away 
to another country to enrich another people who never 
earned it; and are we going to tolerate any tinkering of 
this system? Are we here to listen to any proposal of 
fixity of tenure at fair rents with periodical valuations? 

"I say that, in face of another impending famine too 
plainly visible, the time has come when the manhood of 
Ireland will spring to its feet and say that it will tolerate 
this system no longer. I say we are here to-day to pro- 



234 SPEECH OF MICHAEL DAVITT. 

claim our determination to work unitedly and to work 
unceasingly until all the restrictions that militate against 
the proper cultivation of the soil of Ireland and against 
the happiness and contentment of its people, are swept 
away, once and forever. 

" We have got to stand on our just rights as given to us 
by Almighty God. He created this fruitful land of ours, 
and decreed that those of His people who should inhabit 
it, should live on the land by the fruits of their honest in- 
dustry and labor. If they propose to you to send you 
out to Canada, or to Australia, or to Zuiuland, tell them 
you will not go ; point to your own fruitful valleys and 
everlasting hills, and say that you will keep a firm grip, 
not only of your homesteads, but of Ireland, and this be 
your answer to these emigration schemes. Mr. O'Connor 
told you that it is probable the government might have 
Zuiuland in its eye when its officials and its organs talk 
about an emigration scheme, but I will tell you why I do 
not believe they meant that. There is a great similarity 
between the Irish pike and the Zulu assegai, and the Eng- 
lish soldiers who went out to civilize the Zulus at the 
point of the bayonet found that the savage Africans knew 
how to handle the assegai almost as well as our ancestors 
knew how to handle the pike in '98. In conclusion, I 
would ask you not to be content with coming to these 
meetings and applauding sentences in connection with 
landlordism or the miso-overnment of Ireland ; but to 
work, — to co-operate together, in clubs and in protection 
societies, until there is such an overpowering organization 
throughout the whole of Ireland that will not only break 
down landlordism, but every other barrier that stands 
between the people of Ireland and their just rights." 

paeistell states the case. 

At a meeting held in Indianapolis on the evening of 
Wednesday, January 21st, 1880, Mr. Parnell made the 
following comprehensive explanation of the whole case 
now under discussion. He said: 

" Many of you from Ireland will understand that the 
Irish land question is, with us, a very burning question, 



EMIGRATION NOT REMEDIAL. 235 

indeed. It may be considered extraordinary to many 
Americans, inhabitants of a country where land is so very 
plentiful, that this Irish land question shouid have excited, 
from time to time, so much ill feeling and animosity; 
that such a struggle should have gone on in that country 
between the tenants on one side, who occupy the land, and 
the landlords on the other side who own it. As I have 
said, you in America have boundless tracts of land, and 
you say to us in Ireland, " Why don't you come out to 
America, and we will give you as much land as ever you 
want for nothing." Well, a great many of us have come 
from time to time. I suppose Ireland has sent more 
people, in proportion to her population, to America, than 
any six other European countries put together. In fact, 
by a calculation which has been made, I am told that 
quite one-third of the inhabitants of this country are 
either Irish born, or else descended of Irish born par- 
ents. So we all see that if emigration were the cure for 
the ills of Ireland, Ireland would be the most happy 
and prosperous country on the face of the earth, because, 
for more than a century we have been emigrating, and 
emigrating, and emigrating, until at one time it almost 
seemed as if there would be nobody left in Ireland to emi- 
grate at all. 

THE IRISH LAND SYSTEM. 

"Now as to the Irish land question: The system of 
tenure that obtains in Ireland is what is known as the 
feudal system. It is one which gives the ownership of 
the soil to the landlords, who mainly live out of the 
country. It merely gives the right to the tenant of oc- 
cupying those lands upon payment of a certain amount of 
rent, and upon a very uncertain tenure, indeed. The 
system of tenure in Ireland is this: The tenant is allowed 
to hold his farm upon a six months' notice to quit; and 
the rent at any time at the expiration of six months, may 
be altered by the landlord j*t his own will. You will see 
that that is a very uncertain tenure for a property like 
land. Land requires a great deal to be done before it can 
produce anything at all. These lands had been reclaimed 



236 THE SYSTEM IN IRELAND UNNATURAL. 

and made fertile entirely by the exertions of the tenants. 
The landlords had spent no capital upon them whatever. 
The tenants who have been upon them have reclaimed 
them, and made them fertile. They put all the improve- 
ments upon them which now exist. You will naturally 
say that a six months' tenure is a very uncertain tenure 
for a property like land. If at any time the landlord may 
come in at the -end of six months and say to the tenant 
'You must go off of this land; I won't even allow you to 
reap the crops you have sown or to dig the potatoes; I 
will give you no compensation for the buildings you have 
placed there, for the drains you have dug that have dried 
the land, or for the manures you have put in, or the fences 
you have made.' You will see that such a condition of 
tenure is not calculated, to say the least of it, to induce 
the tenants to lay out their industry in making these im- 
provements. 

"The tenants in Ireland, with one exception, have al- 
ways held their farms on these uncertain tenures, and, 
worse than that, they have actually, from time to time, 
many of them, in large numbers, been dispossessed in this 
way. Their improvements have been confiscated, their 
rents have been raised enormouslv, so that in three- 
fourths of Ireland, among the tenant class — a class who 
are of such enormous importance for the well being of 
an agricultural community — there exists such f a state of 
uncertainty that the tenants fear to cultivate the lands or 
to expend anything in improvements. I think I have 
demonstrated to you that the system of tenure is a very 
uncertain one in Ireland. It is a matter about which you, 
of course, have no experience; a matter that you cannot 
realize here where a man owns the land that he tills, and 
where his improvements are his own, and where nobody 
can step in and confiscate them. That is a natural sys- 
tem of ownership. Ours in Ireland is unnatural and an 
artificial system. At the present moment we are engaged 
in a very agrarian movement in Ireland, which is already 
become the greatest political movement that has ever 
taken place in that country since the repeal of the tithes, 
and which bids fair to entirely alter the present system 



THE STATE HAS THE EIGHT TO TAKE LAKDS. 237 

and kind of tenure there. What do we desire? We desire 
to make the tenants the owners of the soil with as little 
possible injury as possible to vested rights. The shout of 
communism has been raised against us. We are told 
we must not interfere with the property of others; that 
we are endeavoring to rob the landlords. I shall show' 
you bye-and-bye, that we propose to compensate landlords 
far better than they deserve for the termination of their in- 
terests. 

EIGHTS OF PEOPEETT. 

I shall also show you that there is no foundation for the 
cry that has been raised as regards the interference with 
the rights of property in this instance. First of all, we. 
must bear in mind the very radical difference that exists 
between landed property and any other property. It is 
one of the first principles of the English law; one of the 
best settled principles; one which has been repeatedly 
sanctioned and acted upon by the Legislature, that the 
State may forcibly appropriate any landed property when 
it is shown that this appropriation is for the benefit of the 
community at large. That principle is daily acted upon 
in England and in America; also railroad companies in 
America and in England are entitled to take lands forci- 
bly, without the owner's consent, and compensate for 
them. The cry of the rights of property can not there be 
raised, as it is for the public utility. In the same way we 
claim that in Ireland the State is entitled to take the land 
from the landlords, and to hand them to the tenants, pro- 
vided we can show that the measure of public utility to 
be derived from that step is in proportion to the magni- 
tude of it. We shall be asked, of course, for precedence; 
and it is quite right that where we propose a startling in- 
novation upon the rights of property that we should be 
prepared to point to well-founded and well-known pre- 
cedents. 

THE OLD FEUDAL, SYSTEM 

existed in almost every country except Russia. There 
they had a very different system, which, however, was 
trenched in upon after a time. In almost every country 



238 PRUSSIA ABOLISHED THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

in Europe this feudal system of land tenure has existed; 
in other words, the land was owned by a few landlords 
and cultivated by the majority. 

It is a very remarkable fact that in every European 
country where the feudal system of land tenure has ex- 
isted, it has been found more or less unsupportable, and 
the State has stepped in in each case and taken the land 
away from the landlords and transferred it to the tenants. 
Take, for instance, the case of Prussia, which is, perhaps, 
one of the most remarkable examples that we have to 
quote. In Prussia the feudal system was entirely broken 
down. In the rest of Germany it has been partially 
trenched upon. In Italy it has also been attacked, and 
in part destroyed. I shall venture to detain you for a 
few minutes while I point out to you the steps which 
were taken by the king of Prussia to secure safety at the 
conclusion of the peace of Tilsit, when Prussia had 
emerged from an almost disastrous war. I can claim 
confidently that a great and radical change then made has 
contributed since in no small measure to the greatness 
of Prussia as a nation. 

THE CASE OF PRUSSIA. 

Prussia was then one of the weakest of countries. She 
is now the arbiter of continental nations. The king of 
Prussia at the peace of Tilsit, issued an edict by the ad- 
dress of a celebrated reformer, Stein, for the regulation 
of the relations between landlord and tenant. I will ask 
you to allow me to trespass upon your time while I read 
to you this very remarkable preamble: 

" We, Frederick William, by the grace of God, king 
of Prussia, having convinced ourselves, both by personal 
experience in our own domains and by that of many lords 
of manors, of the great advantages which have accrued, 
both to the lord and to the peasant, by the transforma- 
tion of peasant-holdings into property, and the commuta- 
tion of the rents on the basis of a fair indemnity, and 
having consulted in regard to this weighty matter expe- 
rienced farmers, ordain and decree as follows: 

" That all tenants of hereditary holdings, i. e., in which 



AND SETTLED THE DIFFICULTY. 239 

the lord of the manor is bound to select as tenant one or 
other of the heirs of the last tenant — whatever the size 
of the holding — shall, by the present edict, become the 
proprietors of their holdings, after paying to the landlord 
the indemnity fixed by this edict." 

A further section provides: 

"We desire that landlords and tenants should of 
themselves come to terms of agreement, and we give 
them two years from the date of this edict to do so. If 
within that time the work is not done, the State will un- 
dertake it." 

Subsequently the State, upon failure of lords and 
tenants to come to an agreement, issued its bonds or 
debentures, bearing 4 per cent, interest, to the lords in 
payment of the purchase money, and received from the 
tenants a yearly sum amounting to 5 per cent, of the 
principal amount of these bonds. These yearly pay- 
ments by the tenant to the State continued for 41 years, 
and by them in that time both principal and interest 
were discharged. 

Subsequently the State, upon the failure of the land- 
lords and the tenants to come to terms by agreement as 
provided in the act, stepped in and did the work itself. 
And this is the way in which it did the work: It issued 
to the landlords State bonds bearing 4 per cent, interest, 
for the landlords' interest in the land. That is to say the 
State valued the landlord's interest, and it said to them 
we cannot give you money because we are in a bank- 
rupt condition, but we will give you bonds bearing 4 per 
cent, interest. The tenants ceased to pay rent from that 
moment to the landlords, but instead of the payment to 
the landlords they made a payment amounting to 5 per 
cent, on the capital to the State through the ordinary tax- 
gatherers; and at the end of 41 years this payment 
ceased, both principal and interest having been covered 
by this annual payment of 5 per cent, for the interest of 
the landlords in the lands as valued by the State. At 
the end of that time the tenant had nothing more to pay, 
and had his land for his own. That was the solution of 
the Prussian land question. 



240 the peussian tenant ceased TO PAY KENT. 

But you will be surprised when I tell jou. that the 
Prussian system of land tenure was every way superior to 
ours. One of the leading newspapers of Boston, after I 
had discussed this system of land tenure, stated that " it 
was not a fair comparison to draw, because the tenants in 
Prussia were serfs, and in Ireland they are not." If the 
tenants in Ireland are not serfs, I don't know what they 
are. The newspaper was wrong again, even though it 
was a leading journal of "the Hub of the Universe." The 
class of persons, tenants, whom this legislation affected, 
were not serfs ; but the^y hold on a condition of tenure so 
superior, as regards the tenant, to the condition of the 
tenant in Ireland, that we in Ireland would have gladly 
welcomed, and almost now would gladly welcome the con- 
ditions of "the tenure of the Prussian tenant before this 
legislation took place, in exchange for the present system 
of land tenure in Ireland. In Prussia the landlord could 
not raise his rent ; the landlord could not dispossess his 
tenant ; the tenant was permitted to bequeath his prop- 
erty to his children, or to whomsoever he pleased. In 
Ireland they have none of these advantages. • Everything 
depends upon a six months' notice. 

EXAMPLE OF RUSSIA. 

In Russia the serfs originally owned the land, and they 
had a very perfect system of communism, or government 
by villages. The system of government by communes or 
villages in Russia is one of the most perfect systems. It 
did not consist in sharing everybody's property among 
everybody else. This system was broken in upon by the 
nobles, and they made serfs of the peasants. Alexander, 
seeing the great evils which existed from this condition 
of serfdom, decided that the peasants should own the land 
they tilled. The land in Russia was held partly by nobles 
and partly by serfs. The serfs were compelled to do' three 
days work in the week for the nobles; then they were 
allowed to till the land which they occupied during the 
remaining three days of the week, but they were at the 
complete mercy of the nobles, who directed them as to 
how they should till the land, and held them in fact as 



PRUSSIAN SERFS OWNED THE LANDS. Ml. 

serfs. Alexander decided that this state of serfdom should 
cease, that the serfs should no longer be compelled to 
labor for the nobles, and that they should own the land 
that they were in occupation of, and pay the landlords, in- 
stead of the original forced service that they used to pay 
the landlords, a certain rent per annum, and this rent was 
fixed at a very low figure, indeed, something like two or 
three shillings per acre. Alexander also provided that the 
tenants might purchase at this rent and become owners of. 
their lands — purchase the rent by paying the landlords 
sixteen times the yearly amount of rent. That is to say, 
they might buy out the interest of the nobles as regards 
the receipt of this rent by paying them sixteen years' 
rent. They also provided that the government should 
advance to the tenant desirous of thus purchasing, four- 
fifths of the purchase money required. English journals 
and newspapers are in the habit of decrying Russia as the 
home of every description of despotism. But the land 
system of Russia is now, perhaps, the most perfect in the 
world. The people own the land, and they till it in iittle 
communities or villages. Each village o-overns itself: 
and, although we hear of Russia as a great despotism, a 
S} r stem of local government has been < arried there to the 
most perfect and complete effect. 

We say to the English Government, this Irish land 
question has been going on for a long while. The evils 
to Ireland and her people have been incalculable. They 
prevent the soil from being properly tilled. Ireland can 
produce three times as much food as it now produces if 
there was a sensible system of tenure like that. I will 
ask the English Government to step in, either as the 
king of Prussia did, or as the Czar of Russia did, and 
enable the tenants to become owners upon the same 
terms and conditions. We don't care which way you 
proceed. You may either give your State obligations to 
the landlords, in termination of their interest, or you may 
pay them in hard cash. That is a matter for your own 
consideration. Probably the English Government would 
prefer to pay the landlords in hard cash ; and the Legis- 
lature has already contemplated — nay, more — sanctioned 
lo 



242 THE CROW-BAR BRIGADE. 

the principle that it is right that the tenant shall own the 
land. The Bright clause of the land act was passed in 
1870 for the purpose of enabling tenants to become the 
owners of land. That provided that the Government might 
advance two-thirds of the purchase money to the tenants 
who desired to purchase, but the radical difference be- 
tween these clauses and the methods adopted by the 
kings of Prussia and Russia, was that these clauses only 
contemplated the voluntary sale by the landlords. In 
Prussia and Russia the landlords were forcibly expro- 
priated. Of course it will take a long time to induce the 
Irish landlords to sell, and Ave think we are entitled to ask 
the State to come in and forcibly appropriate the land, 
as was done in Russia and Prussia. 

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I don't think I could do 
better than to conclude by reading to you a scene which 
has just taken place in Ireland in connection with 'this 
land movement, which will show you the terrible condi- 
tion of our people, and the frightful sufferings they are 
undergoing, and the determined struggle they are mak- 
ing for the soil of their native land. 

RESISTING- THE PROCESS-SERVERS. 

The actual scene of this business was the village of 
Carraroe, which is on the coast, about twenty miles from 
the town of Gal way. The local police anticipating the 
popular movement, occupied the house before the arrival 
of the crowd, and thus frustrated their intentions. Mes- 
sengers were dispatched to the station at Spiddal, five 
miles distant, asking for reinforcements. These arrived 
during the evening, and the police remained on the prem- 
ises all night. Meanwhile the telegraph wires had been 
put in operation, and the next morning an additional de- 
tachment of fifty constables arrived on the scene. In the 
midst of this little army Fenton issued from the house to 
execute his legal mission. The first house visited was 
that of William Flaherty. Women surrounded the door, 
*and as Fenton advanced to effect service they clutched 
the process and tore it to shreds. The police then 
charged all around with their sword bayonets, wounding 



THE CONSTABULARY RESISTED. 243 

several severely. The women were bayoneted right and 
left, and one of them, Mrs. Conneally, sustained such in- 
juries that the last rites of the church had to be admin- 
istered to her by Rev. P. J. Newell, the Roman Catholic 
priest of the place, who was an eye-witness of the scene. 
Rev. Mr. Newell, it may be mentioned, had exerted him- 
self to prevent any resistance on the part of the people, 
and previous to the charge he addressed them in Irish, 
urging them not to interfere. The police then proceeded 
to the cabin of a man named Conneally, about three hun- 
dred yards distant. They smashed open the door, which 
was closed, and service was effected. James Mackie's 
house was next visited. The women again surrounded 
the door and endeavored to wrest the process from Fen- 
ton. The police charged a second time indiscriminately, 
knocked some of the people down, and, it is stated, bay- 
oneted one man while on the ground unmercifully. Up 
to this the men had not interfered beyond crowding 
round, and no missiles were thrown at the constabulary; 
but now sticks and stones were freely used, and a terri- 
ble melee ensued. The police became much excited, not 
unnaturally, and at last fired some shots over the heads 
of their assailants. Then the process-server attempted to 
deliver the document. The women, as before, snatched 
it out of his hand and destroyed it. Sub-inspector Gib- 
bons rushed into the house, and as he advanced to the 
hearth Mrs. Mackie lifted a blazing turf and smashed it 
on his neck. Smarting from the burning, the officer 
rushed back to the door, and in the struggle his sword 
was knocked out of his hand. The commanding officer 
considered that the situation was now too critical to act 
without the presence of a magistrate, whose orders would 
relieve the constables of the legal responsibility of a con- 
flict with the peasantry. Accordingly the whole force 
was withdrawn and concentrated at the police barrack in 
the village, where the process-server remained for pro- 
tection. 

Ladies and gentlemen, just consider what was attempt- 
ed to be done there. These people had been paying back 
rents for years and years. And the great depression in 



244 APPEAL FOR AMERICAN AID 

value of agricultural products, owing to the enormous 
quantity of beef which you are sending over from this 
country, it has become an impossibility for them to pay 
these rents ; and they applied to their landlords for an 
abatement of 25 per cent., which they brutally and 
inhumanly refused to grant. They said: If you don't 
pay me I will evict you from your holdings, yourselves, 
your wives and your families — all shall go out. The 
roof shall be torn from over your heads. Your furniture 
shall be broken up and the walls of your houses shall be 
levelled. The little feed that you have shall be forcibly 
taken from you, in order to help you pay your rent, if 
I can get anybody to buy that feed ; if I can not I shall 
burn it rather than you shall have it to eat. This is the 
prospect before the people, in order to save themselves 
and families from starvation. They were compelled to 
ask their landlords for a very small abatement in their 
rent. You will agree with me that they exhibited a 
remarkable degree of courage, judgment and respect for 
the law, until the policemen made the attack by bayonet- 
ing the women. When the men saw their wives and 
daughters bayoneted in this savage manner, they could 
not stand it any longer, although they had nothing in 
their hands — no weapons but shilalahs — they behaved 
with the courage of their race ; because they threw 
themselves on the constabulary in this unarmed condition, 
and gained a splendid and gallant victory. No ; believe 
me, the blood of these poor women has not been shed in 
vain ; and from that blood, will spring up the movement 
which will sweep away this accursed system. 

I ask you, people of this prosperous and wealthy 
America, to help us in the way that you can. A horrible 
famine is attacking this people. They have the police 
and all the armed force of the Government in front. 
They have famine in the rear. You can stave off the 
famine. You can at least secure their spirit from beino* 
broken by that physical weakness which must come of 
their hunger. You can send from the bountiful crops 
that the Almighty lias given you, plenty. I am sure, 
living in a free country, that you will think it is almost 



MISSTATEMENTS REFUTED. 245 

your duty to support Ireland at home. All of you who 
are Irishmen will remember with pride that you came 
from a country that has never forgotten its rights ; that 
on eve y field, when contending against the armed pow- 
er of British might or wrestling with the still more dead- 
ly, though silent famine and pestilence, our countrymen 
have shown that they understand that they are inheritors 
of a great and untarnished fame. We are in earnest in 
our work. We intend not to stop or falter one inch or one 
iota, and not to be turned aside from our path, "because 
we feel that we are going to win in this great fight. We 
ask you to save our people from this terrible suffering. 
You helped us in 1845, 1846 and 1847. Public opinion 
of this country has been of enormous importance to us. 
It has concentrated the attention of the whole world 
upon us. You, my friends, have come forward and help- 
ed us generously to-night, and shown your appreciation 
for the sufferings of our unfortunate people, who are 
going through with a heroism that has never been 
equaied. You have shown and will continue to show 
your appreciation of these sufferings by practical aid 
and sympathy." 

EMIGRATION THE LANDLORD'S CURE. 

A St. Louis newspaper editorially approved of the 
claim of an Irish landlord who, in a published letter, as- 
serted " that the present is but a pronounced form of a dis- 
tress which is never totally absent from Ireland, and which 
can only be prevented or diminished in the future by the 
withdrawal of the redundant population to other coun- 
tries. The soil of Ireland has long been over-worked. 
It is now, in many parts, almost exhausted. It cannot 
support the population. There is no prospect of increas- 
ing the manufacturing industries of that country, and its 
agricultural resources are not equal to the demands of 
its people. Hence emigration is the only remedy." 

The Daily J$fews, of Chicago, in its issue of Jan. 28th, 
1880, thus ably answers these misrepresentations of facts 
easy of demonstration: "The humanity of this is only 
equalled by the supercillious self-sufficiency with which 



24:6 EXPORTS FROM IRELAND. 

it is advocated. Why should emigration be the only re- 
lief for Irish distress? Why should Irish distress be the 
only distress for which emigration is the sovereign pana- 
cea? Emigration is never recommended for distress in 
England, Scotland, France, Belgium, Russia, Italy, or, in 
fact, any other European country." 

The St. Louis editor says that the soil of Ireland has 
long been overworked; that it is now in many parts 
almost exhausted; that it cannot support the population. 
These statements are totally and maliciously false. The 
leading products of Ireland in 1858 and 1871 were: 

1858. 1871. 

Wheat, qrs 1,746,464 705,939 

Oats, qrs 8,953,541 7,410,814 

Barley, qrs 802,028 965,709 

Potatoes, tons 4,892,225 4,218,445 

Turnips, tons 4,364,788 4,246,332 

Mangel wurzel, tons 464,423 761,863 

Hay, tons 2,701,006 3,315,525 

Horses, No 610,717 530,353 

Cattle, No 640,201 1,566,149 

Sheep, No 3,487,785 4,330,947 

Pigs, No 1,402,812 1,456,961 

, These figures show a decline in some products, but an 
immense increase in others. 

The population in 1851 was 6,553,291, and in 1871 
only 5,412,377. The value of the live stock in Ireland in 
1870 was no less than $177,592,390. A vast number of 
these cattle are exported to England. We have before 
us the Cork Constitution of January, 1880, which gives 
the export of live stock to Great Britain for the week 
ending January 3, at 8,760 cattle, 9,141 sheep, 11,090 
hogs, 170 horses, and 3 asses; a total of 29,166 head. The 
total for the preceding week was nearly the same num- 
ber. This would be an aggregate of 1,500,000 cattle of 
all descriptions in the course of the year, In 1855 the 
exports of grain to Great Britain were 1,980,397 quarters 
of oats and oat-meal, and 170,000 quarters of wheat; 
214,636 oxen, 8,162 calves, 489,494 sheep, and 254,054 
hogs; to foreign countries 292 cwt. of bacon and ham, 



THE LAND IS NOT DETERIORATING. 247 

7,943 barrels of beef and pork, 17,475 cwt. of butter. 
Immense quantities of butter, eggs, bacon, hams and 
other products of the soil are also exported to Great Bri- 
tain. So that, while the population has diminished over 
1,000,000 since 1855, the exports of products are con- 
stantly increasing. 

Do these facts, gleaned from the records, show that the 
land is deteriorating? That the soil is over-worked or 
exhausted? That it cannot support the population? On 
the contrary, they give the lie to all such statements, and 
prove that it is some inherent political or social cause 
which is at work to prevent a just distribution in the 
country itself of the profits of its labor. O'Connell used 
to declare, and to prove it by the statistics, that Ireland 
produced enough in one agricultural season to support 
the entire population for five. Its capabilities are greater 
to-day than they were in the Great Liberator's time. 
But, the truth is, the products are exausted, in order to 
sustain the drain of absenteeism and the exactions of the 
landlords. 

As to manufactures, they have largely increased in 
the northern part of the island, where Ireland's specialty, 
Jinen, is manufactured in manner and style nowhere else 
excelled, if equaled. But in other manufactures, the 
keen competition of England, the want of capital — one 
of the results of absenteeism — and the unjust discrimi- 
nation of Great Britain against the country in former 
years, has kept down nearly all efforts in this direction. 
But Ireland has inexhaustible mines of anthracite and 
bituminous coal, of iron, copper, lead, and even silver 
and gold. That there is no present prospect of greatly 
developing these industries is true, because the villainous 
landlord and absentee systems are eating out the vitals 
of the country's industries. 

This explains the mystery and sorrow of the fact that 
such a country remains but half utilized by the industrial 
energies of its inhabitants, and that over a large propor- 
tion of its surface Ireland yields only poverty to tens of 
thousands who should be among the most happy and 
prosperous people on the earth. A climate mild and 



218 QUALITY OF THE LAND NOT TO BLAME. 

moist from the influence of the Atlantic, from the hill 
ranges in every maritime county, which condense the 
sea vapor into rain, and from the humidity due to peat 
bogs occupying a seventh p:irt of the superfices of the 
island, is uncongenial for the ripening of full harvests of 
bread corn; and, indeed, the low summer temperature 
and the prevalence of cloud, especially in the south and 
west, render the maturing of wheat, and also of fine malt- 
ing barley, precarious. But these atmospheric condi- 
tions favor the growth of oats, of green forage, roots and 
grasses, and of natural pasture in profusion. Ireland is 
not formed to be a granary; nature makes it a meadow, 
a dairy, and a stall. In part, also, it is a garden of vege- 
tables and fruits. Here is a country which should at 
least be a paradise of live stock, — a land flowing with 
milk, if not with honey. If the profits of agriculture are 
insufficient for the well-being of the population, it is cer- 
tainly not the quality of the soil which is to blame; for 
no one acquainted with the soils of Ireland will class 
them generally as inferior to the light sands and poor 
clays of Flanders, or will compare their natural fertility 
unfavorably wdth the arable and pasture of Denmark or 
of Holland. 

The lack of agricultural prosperity cannot be attribut- 
able to an undue pressure of the Irish population upon 
the limits of the cultivated land. So far as general aver- 
age is concerned, the available area is not below that of 
other countries where the agriculture is extolled for its 
excellence. While in England 24,500,000 out of 22,500- 
000 acres of total area have been brought under crops 
and grass, in Ireland, 15,350,000 out of 20,750,000 acres 
are under management, and this amounts to an average 
of two and three-fourths acres for each head of the popu- 
lation. In Belgium the quantity of cultivated land is 
only one acre per head; in Great Britain it is one and 
one-quarter acres; in Holland one and one-third acres; 
and up to three and one-quarter acres per head in Den- 
mark. An excess of. inhabitants in proportion to the ca- 
pabilities of the country for maintaining them can not be 
said to distinguish Ireland. Judging by the example of 



COMPARED WITH OTHER LANDS. 24:9 

Kingdoms in which it is admitted that the cultivators of 
the soil thrive, it appears probable that Ireland might 
support in comfort a population more numerous than the 
existing 5,412,377, who in parts of many counties are on 
the verge of starvation whenever Providence visits them 
with an unpropitious season. 

There is enough cultivated land in Ireland to be divis- 
ible into holdings averaging twenty-nine acres for each 
of the existing occupiers; and hence there can be no ab- 
solute necessity why a more ruinous parcelment of occu- 
pations should obtain than we find in Denmark, where 
the holdings averace thirty-two acres each, or in the small 
farm provinces of Belgium, where they average little more 
than twenty acres each. Here, however, a remarkable 
inequality exists in the distribution of a total area which, 
if equitably apportioned, might be found ample. Out of 
the 481,000 occupiers in Ireland holding more than a single 
acre each in the year 1878, there are 207,000 holding 
above one and not exceeding fifteen acres, and of these, 
60,000 occupy not more than one to five acres each. The 
number of occupiers with more than fifteen and not ex- 
ceeding thirty acres is 124,000. And with 331,000 farm- 
e.s holding from over one up to thirty acres each there re- 
main only 150,000 farmers occupying above thirty acres; 
nearly half of those — namely, 66,000 — having farms of 
over thirty up to fifty acres. Farmers of over fifty up to 
100 acres number 51,000; only 21,000, or about 4 per 
cent, of the farmers of Ireland, have occupations of over 
100 up to 200 acres; and but 11,000 farmers more than 200 
acres. Probably about half of all the cultivated land is 
in the hands of small occupiers of from over one to not 
more than fifty acres each; while the agricultural condi- 
tion of a third of Ireland is revealed and tested bv the 
condition of the little occupations of from over one to not 
more than thirty acres each. Grave misappreciation of 
the real state of Irish husbandry would arise from taking 
it to be represented mainly by the classes of farms 
which English tenants would regard as large or medium- 
sized, or worthy of the name of farms at all; yet such 
are those commonly visited for the purpose of acquiring 



250 SMALL FARMS RECOMMENDED. 

information as to the character and position of Irish hus- 
bandry. 

The Irish land agitation has been confined to the 
Western and Southern districts of Ireland, and resistance 
to the service of ejectment processes of the merciless 
landlords, and subsequent evictions to the Connemara 
regions in the counties of Mayo and Galway. The agita- 
tion has, however, extended into the Ulster counties of 
the North, where it is sure to be conducted in a more 
systematic, independent, and unyielding manner than 
heretofore.* The Protestant farmers of Armagh and 
Antrim are combining to resist eviction from their farms, 
and it is certain that if wise counsels prevail among the 
landlords they will not be in haste to enforce their de- 
mands. The bailiffs, process-servers, and policemen, who 
form the "crowbar brigade," will find it no easy task to 
evict the sturdy Presbyterian yeomen of Ulster. There 
they will have no unarmed, hungry, spirit-broken 
tenantry to contend with. The descendants of the de- 
fenders of Derry, and of those who kicked the crown of the 
cowardly, faithless, and bigoted Stuarts into the Boyne, 
will not trust to Providence or to women to defend their 
homes. 

It maybe that the landlords, blinded by their own 
cupidity, will press their unrighteous claims, and that the 
Tory Government, lost in the mazes of their foreign policy, 
will be foolish enough to back them up. What the conse- 
quences may be in such a case, it is hard to say, but the ac 
tion of the Dungannon Convention of 1761, and of the vol- 
unteers of '82, who hung tablets from their gun barrels bear- 
ing the motto "Free Trade or ," is not a matter 

of so remote date that one cannot predict that the Pro- 
testant Ulster farmers will resist to the bitter end. 
These men are of a race of whom our own historian, Ban- 
croft, wrote: " Their training had kept the spirit of lib- 
erty and the readiness to resist unjust government fresh 
in their hearts." " Their experience and their religion 
alike bade them to meet oppression with resistance." 
Unlike the farmers of the South and West, the Ulster 
farmers have the means of resistance, for, esteeming it 



THE NORTHERN FARMERS. 251 

the first privilege of freemen " to have and bear arms," 
they have persistently and successfully resisted all at- 
tempts of the English government to disarm them. In 
the various "arms" and " insurrection acts passed by the 
British parliament, the inhabitants of the northern coun- 
ties have been and are exempt from the operation of the 
disarming statutes. That the landlords respect a deter- 
mined and firm attitude, if they do not fear it, may be 
gathered from the fact that in Tipperary and Westmeath, 
where the " wild justice of revenge " doctrine prevails, 
there have been scarcely any evictions for a dozen years. 
It is hardly possible, then, that there will be any serious 
attempt to throw the Ulster tenants on the highways; 
and, did the Catholic Irish exhibit the same spirit of de- 
termination and union, there is every reason to think that 
heart-rending scenes would not be so numerous as they 
seem to be in the Celtic districts of Ireland. 

The legislation of recent years, particularly the legis- 
lation of Mr. Gladstone's Administration, has done much 
to obliterate all sectional, race, and religious animosities 
in Ireland, and a spirit of mutual toleration has begun to 
prevail between the Catholics and Protestants, which is a 
good augury for the future of that unhappy, plundered, 
and oppressed country. The community of interests and 
better acquaintance with each other which will result from 
united political action, will do much to extend this spirit. 

So it is devoutly to be wished that the time is not far 
distant when Ireland may be a united people, whom it 
will not be safe for a Tory Government or rack-renting 
landlords to oppress and tread under foot. 

The advent of Mr. Gladstone to power, which appears 
likely to follow the next election in Great Britain and 
Ireland, will be the inauguration of a series of measures 
which will realize Peel's policy of " establishing between 
England and Ireland complete equality in all civil, 
municipal, and political rights, so that no person viewing 
Ireland with perfectly disinterested eyes should be en- 
abled to say a different law is enacted in Ireland, and, on 
account of some jealousy or suspicion, Ireland has cur- 
tailed or mutilated rights." When such shall be the case, 



252 THE SPIRIT OF THE NORTH. 

and when there has been effected a complete and radical 
change in the system of land tenure and ownership, there 
will be no need for the Irish people to be periodical 
mendicants, and their country the scene of mise^, 
squalor, and anarchy. The determined attitude already 
assumed by the Presbyterian tenantry cannot but hasten 
these good results. Men of their race and blood, accord- 
ing to Bancroft and Froude, were the first to declare for 
the separation of the American Colonies from the 
" Mother Country." May not the present position of 
these men indicate and betoken the dawn of a brighter 
era of comparative independence for themselves and 
their less determined countrvmen? 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 



BY COUNTIES, CITIES, BOROUGHS AND TOWNS; SHOWING 
THEIR LOCATION, LENGTH, BREADTH, AREA IN ACRES, 
CULTIVATED AND UNCULTIVATED LANDS, POPULATION, 
GOVERNMENT, MINERAL RESOURCES AND PRODUCTIONS, 
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE, MANUFACTURES, VALUE OP 
PROPERTY, ETC., ETC. 

ANTRIM COUNTY. 

Antrim, a maritime county of Ulster. Boundaries: N. 
the Atlantic; E. the northern channel; S. Down; W. 
Lough Neagh and Londonderry. Length, N. and S., 50 
miles; breadth, E. and W., 30-J- miles; comprising an 
area of 762,079 acres, of which 631,050 are arable, 72,065 
uncultivated, 6,717 plantation, 1,908 in towns, and 52,248 
under water; off the north coast are Rathlin and Ragherry 
islands and the Skerries. On the Maiden Rocks, off Larne 
Bay are two light- houses, showing two fixed lights; the 
principal bays are Belfast Lough and Lough Larne; the sub- 
soil is basalt and trap, forming the Giant's Causeway; on 
the N. coast, clay, slate and limestone; there is also coal 
at Ballycastle; there is also salt mines at Duncrue, Car- 
rickfergus, the produce of which is of superior quality. 
Large beds of iron-ore have recently been discovered in 
the hill region extending from Larne to Cushendall, which 
are likely to prove of great importance. The ore is shipped 
from Larne, Glenarm and Cam Lough and Red Bay. One- 
third of the county is mountain, not rising more than 
1,000 feet above sea level, and declining from the sea 

(253) 



254 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

coast towards Lough Neagh in the S. W.; the river Barm 
forms the W., and the Lagan forms the S. boundary of 
the counter. The Lagan canal connects Lough Neagh 
•with Belfast Lough. Bogs are large and numerous. The 
staple commodity of this county is the spinning of linen and 
cotton yarns, and linen and cotton weaving. The county 
is divided into 14 baronies, 78 parishes, and 1,741 town 
lands, having a population in 1871 of 404,015, or 85,030 
families, inhabiting 73,931 houses, also 3,220 houses un- 
inhabited and 307 building; it is in the Diocese of Con- 
nor. The principal towns are the parliamentary bor- 
ough of Belfast, including the suburb of Ballymacarrett; 
population of 1871, 174,412; the county of the town and 
parliamentary borough of Carrickfergus, 9,397 ; parlia- 
mentary borough of Lisbon has a population in the 
county of 8,302, and the remaining inhabitants, 1,024, are 
in Down county. 

The county returns 6 members to Parliament; 2 for 
the county at large; constituency 10,888, with 21 poll- 
ing places; 2 for Belfast borough, constituency 18,963; 
and for each of the boroughs of Carrickfergus and Lis- 
bon, 1 each; constituencies, 1,351 and 61L The bar- 
onies are: Antrim Lower, Antrim Upper, Belfast Low- 
er, Belfast Upper, Corry, Dunluce Lower, Dunluce Up- 
per, Glenarm Lower, and Upper Kilconway, Massereene, 
Lower, Massereene Upper, Toome Upper, Toome Lower. 
The* towns are: Ballymena, Larne, Legoniel, Ballymone}^, 
Antrim, Bally castle, White Abbey, Portrush, Whitehouse, 
Ballyclare, Bushmills, Glenarm, Ahoghill, Greencastle, 
Broughshane, Randalstown, Portglcnone, being in Co. 
Derry, Cornlough, Dunmurry. 

See Belfast under Boroughs and Cities. 

ARMAGH COUNTY. 

Armagh, is in Ulster. Boundaries: N. Lough Neagh; E. 
Down; S. Louth; W. Monaghan and Tyrone. Length, N. 
and S. 32 miles; breadth, E. and W. 20 miles, comprising 
an area of 328,086 acres, of which 265,243 are arable, 35,117 
uncultivated, 8,996 plantation, 778 towns and 17,942 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 255 

under water. The surface is hilly, rising into mountains 
in the S. W., where the highest point of Slieve Gullion is 
1,893 feet above the sea; the Ne wry Canal skirts the 
county on the E.; the Ulster R. R. is extended from Bel- 
fast to Monaffhan. The soil is fertile with much boQ\ 
Combined with agriculture is a weaving of cotton and 
linen. But the latter has long been the staple manu- 
facture. The county is divided into 8 Baronies: Armagh, 
L. Fews, U. Fews, O'Neiland, E. O'Neiland, E. & W. 
Orier, U. Orier, L. & U. and Tiranny. It has 28 parishes 
and 970 town lands; a population in 1871 of 179,260 or 
36,247 families inhabiting 34,429 houses, also 1,583 unin- 
habited, and 32 building. It is mostly in Armagh Archdi- 
ocese; the principal towns are the county towns, city, and 
Parliamentary borough of Armagh, population in 1871, 
8,946, and a part of the Parliamentary borough of Newry, 
having a population of 5,321, and remaining proportion 
with 8,837 inhabitants, is in County Down. The county 
returns three members to Parliament, two for the county 
at large, constituency 7,156, with 50 polling places, and 
one for Armagh City, constituency 584. 

The towns are — Lurgan Portadown, Bessbrook, 
Keady, Tanderagee, Markethill, Newtown Hamilton, 
Darkley, Richhill, Crossmaglen. 

See Armagh under Boroughs and Cities. 



CARLOW COUNTY. 

Carlow, an inland county in Leinster. Boundaries: N. 
Kildare and Wicklow; E. Wicklow and Wexford; S. 
Wexford; W. Kilkenny and Queens. Length N. and S. 
29 miles; breadth E. and W. 20^- miles, comprising an 
area of 221,343 acres, of which 195,831 are arable, 21,302 
uncultivated, 3,075 in plantation, and 505 under water. 
The surface is generally level except the baronies which 
adjoin Wicklow, and which partake of its hilly character. 
On the western side of the river Barrow, the Colliery 
range extends from N. to S. through the barony of 
Idrone W., some of the hills rising to a height of about 
1,000 feet above the sea, which, being in some places 



256 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

wooded and cultivated to the top, form a beautiful land- 
scape. On the eastern side a succession of fertile table 
land extends to Borris, and on the S. E. is Mount Leinster, 
attaining a height of 2,604 feet. The Slaney flows through 
the county, as also the Barrow, which skirts it on the west. 
The northern part separating it from the Queen's County, 
the middle from its own barony Idrone W., and the 
southern part from the county of Kilkenny. The staple 
trade is in corn, flour, meal, butter and provisions. The 
county is divided into 7 baronies, Carlow, Forth, E. Idrone, 
W. Idrone, Rathvilly, L. St. Mullins, U. St. Mullins, and 
into 35 parishes, 12 parts of parishes, 597 town lands, hav- 
ing a population of 51,650 or 10,355 families ; inhabiting 
9,701 houses, also 226 uninhabited, and 29 building. 
The county is in Leighlin Diocese. The principal town 
is the county town, Parliamentary borough of Carlow, 
part of which is called Craigue, is in the Queen's county, 
population, 7,842. The county returns three members to 
Parliament — two for the County at Large, Constituency 
2,213, with nine polling places, and one for Carlow bor- 
ough, Constituency 298. 

The towns are Bagnalstown, Tullow, Leighlinbridge, 
Hacketstown, Borris. 

See Carlow under Boroughs and Cities. 

CAVAN COUNTY. 

An inland County in Ulster. Boundaries: N. Ferma- 
nagh and Monaghan; E. Monaghan andMeath; S. Meath 
and Westmeath and Longford; W. Longford and Lei trim.. 
Length S. E. and N. W. 51 miles; breadth N. andS. 28 
miles, comprising 477,360 acres, of which 375,473 are 
arable, 71,918 uncultivated, 7,325 plantation, 502 in 
towns, 22,142 under water. The surface is undulating, 
with mountainous ranges in the N. There are indica- 
tions of coal, iron, copper and lead, and numerous 
mineral springs, of which the Swanlinbar is the most 
celebrated. The soil is light and pure, except along in 
the courses of the rivers. Lakes are numerous, many 
highly picturesque. The occupations are chiefly agricul- 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 257 

tural. The linen trade was carried on here extensively, 
and there are still many bleach-greens. The country is 
divided into 18 Baronies : Castlerahan, Clonkee, Clan- 
mahon, Longhtee U., Longhtee L., Tullygarvey, Tullyhaw 
U. Tullyhunco L., and contains 36 parishes and 1,980 
town lands, with a population of 140,735, or 27,267 
families, inhabiting 26,364 houses, also 535 uninhabited, 
and 30 building. It is chiefly in Kilmore Diocese. The 
county returns 2 members to Parliament, the Constitu- 
ency 6,276, with 18 polling places. 

Towns are — Cootehill, Belturbet, Bailieborough, 
Kingscourt, Virginia, Ballyjamesduff, Arvagh, Killeshan- 
dra, Bellanagh. 

CLARE COUNTY. 

Clare, a maritime county in Munster province. 
Boundaries; N. Gal way and Galway Bay; E. and S. the 
Shannon, which separates it from Tipperary, Limerick, 
and Kerry, W. the Atlantic. Length N. E. and S. W. 67+ 
miles, breadth N. W. and S. E. 38 miles; area 827,994 
acres, of which 151,035 are under tillage, 469,446 in 
pasture, 7,340 plantation, 137,224 waste, bog, mountain, 
etc., and 67,920 under water. The coast is generally 
rocky, and in some places bold, precipitous cliffs, it is 
indented with several bays, the principal of which are 
Bally vaughan, Liscannon and Malbay; there are also 
Doonbeg, Ballord, Farrahy, Moorebay and Rossbay, and 
in the estua^ of the Shannon Rinevella, Kilbaha, 
Carrigaholt, Poulnasherry and Clonderlaw Bay. Kilrush 
Creek and the estuary of the Fergus, which is the only 
large river off the coast; in the Atlantic is Mutton 
Island; and in the Shannon Scattery Hog Island. Im- 
mense oyster beds abound in Ballyvaughan and along 
the shores of Burren. The salmon fishery is also ex- 
tensively carried on in Clonderlaw Bay, in the rivers 
Shannon and Fergus and at Dunbes;. The diversified 
mountains in the N. E. and in the E. and in the N. W. 
and W., the centre an undulating plain; the soil varying 
from light limestone pasture in the N. to deep, rich loam 
17 



258 GAZETTEEK OF ICELAND. 

along the Shannon in the S. The W., which is a portion 
of Minister, is cold and wetland, interspersed with bog. 
Limestone occupies all the Northern and central parts of 
the country, but there are valuable lead mines worked 
at Ballyvirgin, Rathclooney, Crow Hill and Carrahan. 
At Killaloe and Broadford are excellent slate quarries. 
The produce is almost wholly agricultural. The chief 
trade is corn and provisions, and some of the best sheep 
and cattle are reared in the excellent pasturage of this 
county. Freize hosiery are manufactured for home use. 
The imports are principally corn and timber. 

The country is divided into 11 Baronies: L. Bunratty, 
U. Bunratty, Burren, Clonderlaw, Corcomroc, Ibrickan, 
Inchiquin Islands, Moyarta, L. Tulley, U. Tulley, 80 
parishes and 2193 town lands, with a population of 147,- 
364 or 27,636 families, inhabiting 26,069 houses, also 712 
uninhabited and 53 building. It includes the diocese 
of Kilfenora, the greater part of Killaloe and a small 
portion of Limerick. The principal towns are the 
county town and Parliamentary borough of Ennis; pop- 
ulation 6503. The county returns 3 members to Parlia- 
ment, 2 for the county at large, constituency 5432, with 
20 polling places, and one for the burrough of Ennis, 
constituency 242. 

Towns are Kilrush, Kilkee, Killaloe, Ennistymon, Mil- 
town, Malbay, Clare, Tulla, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Sca- 
rify Corofin, Killadysert, Sixmilebridge. 

CORK COUNTY. 

Cork, a maritime county in Munster province; the larg- 
est 5 of Ireland, both in extent of surface and of arable 
land. Boundaries: N., Limerick; E., Tipperary and 
"Waterford; S. the Atlantic ocean; W. Kerry. Greatest 
length, E. and W. 110 miles, greatest breadth N. and S. 
70 miles; comprising an area of 1,849,686 acres, of which 
470,926 are under tillage, 1,000,735 in pasture, 31,744 in 
plantations, 6000 in towns, 331,882 waste bog, mountain, 
etc., and 14,369 under water. The coast is indented with 
numerous bays, the principal of which are Bantry, Dun- 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 259 

manus, Cloghnakilty, Kinsale, Cork Harbour and You<*hal. 
Off the coast are the islands of Cape Clear (population 
1052) Whiddy, and several smaller. The west part of the 
county is mountainous, the north and east extremely 
fertile. The mineral productions are chiefly copper, 
the mines of which at Allahies, employ from 1500 to 
2000 hands: coal, limestone, fullers-earth and brick clay. 
Throughout the whole county there is a great diversity 
of soil, climate and scenery. The county is divided into 
East and West Ridings for the purpose of holding 
genend sessions of the peace ; the East Riding has been 
sub-divided into 3 districts for quarter sessions purposes, 
and the West Riding into 2 divisions. There are in the 
county, including the county of the city of Cork, 23 
baronies: East Riding, Barretts, Barrymore, Condons and 
Clangibbon, Cork, Du Hallow, Fermoy, Imokilly, Kerry- 
currihy, Kinalea, Kinnatalloon, Kinsale, Muskerry East, 
part of Orrery and Kilmore. West Riding: Bantry, 
Bear, Carberry East, E. D., Carberry East, W. D., Car- 
berry West, E. D., Carberry West, W. D. Courcey, 
Ibane and Barryroe, Kinalmeaky, Muskerry East, part of, 
and Muskerry West. There are 251 parishes, and 5561 
town^ lands, with a total population of 517,076 persons, 
or 97,903 families, inhabiting 84,789 houses, also 3094 
uninhabited, and 159 building. It comprises the dioceses 
of ^ Cork, Cloyne, Ross, and a small part of Ardfert. The 
principal towns of the East Riding are Cork citv and 
Parliamentary borough, population 100,518 ; the" Par- 
liamentary boroughs of Kinsale, 7050, Youghal, 6081, 
and Mallow 4165. The county returns 8 members to 
Parliament ; 2 for the county at large, constituency, 
15,044, with 55 polling places, 34 being the East Riding 
and 21 in the West ; 2 for Cork city, constituency 402, 
247, 199 and 257. The other towns in East Riding are 
Queenstown, Fermoy, Middleton, Mitchelstown, Charle- 
viile, Passage West, Kanturk, Buttevant, Doneraile, 
Cloyne, Ballintemple, Whitegate, Castletownroche, Doug- 
lass, Monkstown, Carrigtushill, Glanworth, Kilworth, 
Blackrock Ballin, Collig. West Riding are Skibbereen, 
Clonakilty, Bantry, Macroom, Dunmanway, Miilstreet, 
Castletown, Berehaven, Rosscarberry, Ballydehob, Skull. 



260 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 



DONEGAL COUNTY. 



Donegal, a maritime county in Ulster province* 
Boundaries: N. the Atlantic Ocean; E. Lough Foyle; 
Londonderry and Tyrone; S. Tyrone, Fermanagh and Lein- 
trim; W. the Atlantic Ocean. Greatest length, N. E. 
and S. W., 85 miles; greatest breadth, S. E, and N.W., 
41 miles, comprising an area of 1,197,154 acres, of which 
247,281 are under tillage, 411,966 in pasture, 9,308 in 
plantations, 505,719 waste, bog, mountains, etc., and 22,- 
860 under water. The coast is indented by numerous 
bays, of which the principal are Lough Swilly, Lough 
Foyle, Mulroy, Sheephaven, Teelin, Killybegs, Inver and 
Donegal. The islands are numerous; 17 are inhabited; 
the principal are N. Ajran, containing 4,355 acres, popu- 
lation 1,220, Innistrahul and Tory; there are light-houses 
on N. Arran, Innistrahul, Tory Island, at Tannet point, 
W. of Lough Swilly, Rathlin, Obeirne's Island, N. W. 
side of the entrance to the bay of Donegal, and at St. 
John's Point, Killybegs. The surface is mountainous 
and boggy. The lakes are numerous, but small; the most 
remarkable is Lough Dearg, 3,214 acres, having in it St. 
Patrick's Purgatory, a celebrated place of pilgrimage. Riv- 
ers are numerous but small. The sub-soil ischiefly granite, 
mica-slate and limestone. The climate is moist; potatoes, 
oats and flax are the chief crops ; spade husbandry is 
practiced along the west coast. The occupations are 
chiefly agricultural; the linen manufacture is now reviv- 
ing, and weaving is extensively carried on, especially in 
the town and neighborhood of Raphoe; that of woolen 
stockings is increasing and much employment is afforded 
to the otherwise unemployed female population by the 
worked-muslin trade; the inhabitants near the coast are 
much occupied in the fisheries, and the making of kelp 
from seaweed, an article which is largely exported to Scot- 
land. The Finn Valley Railway lines from Strabane to 
Stranorlar, from Derry to Buncrana and from Enniskil- 
len to Bundoran, are in operation. The county is divided 
into six Baronies,viz: Banagh Boylagrylnishowen E., Inis- 
howen W., Kilmacrenan, Raphoe, Tirhugh. There are 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 261 

51 parishes and 2,627 town lands, with a population. of 
218,334 persons, or 41,944 families, inhabiting 40,854 
houses; also 1,393 uninhabited and 89 building. It con- 
tains Raphoe diocese, and parts of those of Derry and 
Clogher. Buncrana, Rathmelton, Donegal and Killybegs, 
which are seaports, carry on a considerable trade. The 
county returns two members to Parliament, constituency 
4,612, with 27 polling places. The towns are Ballyshan- 
non, Letterkenny, Donegal, Moville, Rathmelton, Rap- 
hoe, Ballybofey, Buncrana, Bundoran, Carndonogh, Dun- 
fanaghy, Killybegs, Lifford, Glenties, Ardara, Pettigoe. 

DOWN COUNTY. 

Down, a maritime county in Ulster province. Boun- 
daries: N. Antrim and Carrickfergus Bay; E. and W. the 
Irish Sea; W. Armagh. Length N. E. and S. W. 51 
miles; breadth N. W. and S. E. 38 miles, comprising an 
area of 612,409 acres, of which 339,541 are under tillage, 
187,604 in pasture, 12,027 in plantations, 70,296 waste, 
bog, mountain, &c, and 3,004 under water. On the coast 
are, Carrickfergus Bay, Strangford Lough or Lough 
Cone, Killough, Dundrum and CarlingfordBays; and at a 
short distance from it are the Copeland Islands, on the 
lesser of which is a lighthouse showing a fixed light; on 
the South Rock, off the Ardes with a light revolving every 
1-g- minutes; at Ardglass Harbor, and one revolving light 
at St. John's Point. The Harbor of Donaghadee has 
been improved, and has a depth of 10 feet at low spring 
tides. There is a fixed light on the S. E. pier visible for 
12 miles, red to seaward and white towards the harbor 
and entrance to Belfast Bay. The surface is hilly, rising 
into mountains in the south; the highest, Slieve-Donard, 
being 2,809 above high-sea level. The river Lagan skirts 
the county on the N. and the Bann on the W. The sub- 
soil is clay, slate and some limestone with granite in the 
S. The soil is of medium quality; the chief crops pota- 
toes, barley, oats and flax. Linen is the staple manufac- 
ture. The county is divided into 10 baronies. Ards 
Lower, Ards Upper, Castlereagh Lower, Castlereagh Up- 



262 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

per, Dufferin, Iveagh Lower, Iveagh Upper, Lower and 
Upper Part, Upper Part, Kinelearty, Lecale Lower, 
Lecale Upper, Lordship of Newry, Mourne, and contains 
70 parishes and 1,286 town lands, having a population of 
293,449 persons or 61,464 families, inhabiting 58,343 
houses; also 3,405 uninhabited, and 114 building. 

It is in the Dioceses of Down and Dromore, with a small 
portion in that of Connor. The principal towns are the 
County town and Parliamentary borough of Down- 
patrick, population of 4,155. The portion of the bor- 
rough of Belfast, in this county, contains a population of 
16,155 ; the remaining population, 158,257 is in Antrim 
county. The part of the Parliamentary borough of Lis- 
burn, in this county, has a population of 1,024, the re- 
mainder, 8,302 is in Antrim county. The Parliamentary 
borough of Newry has a total population of 14,213, of 
which 8,837 is in this county and the remainder in Ar- 
magh county. The county returns four members to parlia- 
ment; two for the county at large, constituency, 12,705, 
with 26 polling places; one for Downpatrick, constituency, 
281 ; one for Newry, constituency, 1,086. 

Towns : Newtownards, Banbridge, Holywood, Gil- 
ford, Bangor, Dromore, Donaghadee, Comber, Portaferry, 
Rathfryland, Warrenpoint, Killyleagh, Kilkeel, Ballina- 
hinch, Tullynery, Saintfield, Hillsborough, Grey Abbey, 
Newcastle, Castlewellan, Killough, Ballywalter, Crossgar, 
"Waringstown, Moira, Rosstrevor, Kircubbin, Ardglass, 
Seapatrick, Annsborough, Carrowdore. 

DUBLIN COUNTY. 

Dublin, a maritime county in Leinster province. 
Boundaries: N. Meath; E. the Irish Sea; SWicklow; W. 
Kildare and Meath. Length N. and S. 32 miles; breadth 
E. and W. 18 miles; comprising an area of 226,895 acres, 
of which 100,236 are under tillage, 91,503 in pasture, 
4,716 in plantations, 30,440 waste, bog, mountain, etc., 
and 998 water, and 1,820 under towns, exclusive of Dub- 
lin City. Along the cast are the Bays of Dublin, 
Killiney, Malahide, Rogerstown, and Lough Shinny, 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 263 

and the artificial harbours of Kingstown, Howth, Lam- 
bay, and Balbriggan; and close to it the Island of Lara- 
bay, and the islets of Red Island, Colt Island, St. Pat- 
rick's Island, Shimiick's Island 1 , Ireland's Eye, and Dalk- 
ey; off the S. coast is the Kish Bank light ship, showing- 
three fixed, lights ; and in Dublin harbour are fixed 
lights on the Poolbeg or S. Wall, Baily of Howth, Howth 
Harbour, Balbriggan and the North Wall, and at Kings- 
town a fixed light and a revolving light, the former on 
the West Pier, the latter on the East Pier, at the mouth 
of the harbour, in which is also a short additional pier 
and railway for the Mail Packet service. The only river 
of note is the Liffey. The prevailing character of the 
sub-soil is calp, lime-stone and granite. The surface is 
level, rising at its southern boundary into a range of 
elevated hills, the summit of the highest of which, Kip- 
pure, 2,473 feet above high sea level. The county in. 
divided into nine Baronies, viz., Balrothery, E. Balroth- 
ery, W. Castleknock, Coolock, Dublin, Nethercross, 
Newcastle, Rathdown, Uppercross, and contains 76 
civil parishes, and 10 parts of parishes, and 1,066 town- 
lands, having a population of 158,936 persons, or 31,- 
686 families, inhabiting 26,858 houses, also 1,835 un- 
inhabited and 110 building. This is in the Arch- 
diocese! of Dublin and Glandelough. The principal 
towns are Kingstown, population 16,378. The county 
returns two members to Parliament; constituency, 5,220, 
with 18 polling places. The towns are Skerries, Chapel- 
izod, Rush, Swords, Howth, Terenure, Malahide, Baldoyle, 
Lusk, Dundrum, Lucan, Stillorgan. 

See Dublin, under Boroughs and Cities. 

FERMANAGH COUNTY. 

Fermanagh, an inland county in Ulster province. 
Boundaries : N. Donegal and Tyrone; E. Tyrone and 
Monaghan; S. Cavan; W. Cavan and Leitrim. Length N 
W. and S. E. 45 miles ;. breadth N. E. and S. W. 29 miles, 
comprising an area of 457,195 acres, of which 106,530 
are under tillage, 243,251 in pasture, 5,909 in plantations, 



264 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

55,248 waste, boo;, mountain, etc., 210 in towns, and 40,431 
under water. The surface generally exhibits a succes- 
sion of abrupt eminences of slight elevation ; it is moun- 
tainous along the western boundary, from Bally connell 
to the sea, and also between Lisnaskea, Fivemiletown and 
Rosslea. Lough Erne, its most attractive feature, ex- 
tends from one extremity to the other for 45 miles in a 
N. W. direction ; it bisects the county, and is divided 
into upper and lower ; the upper extends from Wattle- 
bridge to Enniskillen ; the lower from Enniskillen to 
Rosscor, where its waters are contracted and forms the 
river Erne, which extends to the county Donegal and 
falls into the sea at Ballyshannon. It is navigable dur- 
ing; the winter season through its whole extent to the 
fall at Beleek, within three miles of Ballyshannon ; a 
steamer plies occasionally during the summer months 
between Enniskillen and Beleek, on the lower lake ; 
another steamer has been provided for the upper lakes. 
The other lakes next in size are Loughs Melvin and 
Macnean. The soil is variable, heavy, and retentive of 
moisture, light and friable and moorish. Coal and iron 
ore are found in small quantities, and there is sand and 
limestone in abundance ; the climate mild and moist. 
The trade in butter is considerable, and the linen manu- 
facture of a coarse description, chiefly for domestic use, 
is carried on to a small extent. 

The county is divided into 8 baronies, viz : Clanawly, 
Clankelly, Coole, Knockninny, Lurg, Magheraboy, 
Magherastephena, Tyrkennedy, and contains 23 parishes, 
and 2,183 town lands, having a population of 92,794 per- 
sons, or 18,957 families, inhabiting 17,710 houses, also 
577 uninhabited, and 34 building. 

It is chiefly in Clogher diocese, with a small portion 
in that of Kilmore. The county town is Enniskillen, ' 
population of 5,906. The county returns 3 members 
to Parliament — 2 for the county, constituency, 4,859 with 
13 polling places ; and 1 for Enniskillen borough, con- 
stituency 403. 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 265 



GALWAY COUNTY. 



Galwat, a maritime county in Connaught province, 
Boundaries, N. Mayo and Roscommon; E. Roscommon, 
Kings, and Tipperary; S. Clare and Gal way bay; W. 
the Atlantic Ocean. Length, E. and W. 84 miles; 
breadth, N. and S., 62 miles; comprising an area of 
1,566,352 acres, of which 230,902 are under tillage, 794,- 
710 in pasture, 23,910 in plantations, 426,600 waste bog, 
mountain, etc., 1,801 in towns, and 90,230 under water. 
The coast is indented with numerous bays. The principal 
islands are Inismore, population 2,592; Inishmaan, 473; 
Inishere 456; Garomna and Inishark. On Inishere there 
is a light-house, and also one on Eevao-h Island to the N. 
W. of Inishmore; there are light-houses with fixed lights at 
Sline Head in Connemara, and on Mutton Island in Gal- 
way Harbour. Lough Corrib divides the county into 
the E. and W. districts, and is navigable from the sea to 
Cong, in Mayo, and small steamers ply on its entire 
length. Lough Dearg is an expansion of the Shannon, 
which forms part of the eastern boundary of the county. 
The W. district, named also Iarconnaught, Connemara, 
and Joyce's country, is mountainous and rugged, poorly in- 
habited, parts almost desolate, but capable of high degrees 
of cultivation at moderate expense, and from its wild 
and beautiful scenery is crowded every summer with 
tourists; the E., level and mostly arable with much bog. 
Iron and lead ore has been found and the former worked 
when timber for smelting it was abundant. Limestone 
and marble are the chief minerals. In Connemara there 
is abundance of most beautiful green variegated marble, 
called serpentine; the black near Oughterard is very 
fine and has been exported to the London and other 
markets. The occupations are chiefly agricultural. 
Coarse linens and woolen stockings are manufactured,, 
and kelp along the shores. At Oughterard a linen weav- 
ing factory has been established, and on the coast fishing 
affords occupation to many of the inhabitants. A com- 
pany for deep sea fishing and trawling has been estab- 
tablished in Gal way. A branch of the Grand Canal ex- 



26Q GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

tends from Shannon harbor to Ballinasloe. The county 
is divided into 18 baronies, viz: Aran, Athenry, Baliy- 
moe, Ballinahineh, Clare, Clonmacnowen, Dunkillin, 
Diinmore, Gal way, (Co. of Town) Kilconnell, Killian, 
Kiltartan, Leitrim, Longford, Loughrea, Moycullen, 
Ross, Tiaquin, and 110 parishes, 10 parts of parishes and 
4,237 town lands, having a population of 248,458 or 48,057 
families, inhabiting 45,564 houses; also 970 uninhabited, 
and 95 building. The county comprehends the whole of 
Kilmacduagh diocese, and parts of the Tuam, Clonfert, 
Elphin, and Killaloe. It returns 4 members to Parlia- 
ment; 2 for the county at large, constituency, 5,087, with 
37 polling places. The towns are Tuam, Ballinasloe, part 
of, Loughrea, Gort, Clifden, Portumna, Athenry, Head- 
ford, Dunmore, Oughterard, Eyrecourt, Kinvara, Men- 
lough. 

KERRY COUNTY. 

Kerry, a maritime county in Munster province. 
Boundaries: N. the estuary of the Shannon; E. Limerick 
and Cork; S. Cork and Kenmare estuary; W. the Atlantic 
ocean. Length, N. and S. 60 miles; breadth E. and W. 
58 miles, comprising an area of 1,185,918, acres, of which 
152,689 are under tillage, 638,149 in pasture, 15,101 in 
plantations, 348,097 waste, bog, mountain, etc., 807 in 
towns, and 31,882 under water. The principal bays along 
the coast are Tralee, Brandon, Smerwick, Dingle, Ballins- 
kellig, and Kenmare estuary. The principal islands are 
Valentia, population 2920. The Blasquets and the Skellig 
rocks, on one of which there is a lighthouse showing- two 
fixed lights. The face of the country is formed of 
mountain ranges, intersected by deep valleys with some 
level ground. The summit of Carran Tual, the highest 
mountain in Ireland, is 3,410 feet above high sea level. 
The lakes of Killarney are small but peculiarly pictur- 
esque and are now accessible by the Killarney Junction 
Railway, from Mallow, on the Grand Southern and West- 
ern line. The subsoil is slate and red sand-stone with 
limestone in the low districts. Iron ore abounds, cojDper 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 267 

and lead ores are found in many places, and mines are 
worked near Kenmare and Tralee. The coal veins of 
Duhallow run into the northeastern part of the county. 
Slate of a superior kind and flagstone are raised in great 
quantities at Valentia. The occupations are dairy farm- 
ing, tillage and fishing. The chief crops, potatoes, oats 
and turnips. The county is divided into eight baronies, 
viz: Clanmaurice, Corkaguiny, DunKerrow, N. Dun- 
Kerrow, S. Glenarought, Iraghticonnor, Iveragh, Magun- 
ihy, Trughanacmy, and contains 87 parishes, and 2,716 
town lands, having a population of 196,586 persons, or 34,- 
747 families, inhabiting 32,240 houses, also 463 uninhab- 
ited, and 68 building. The principal towns are the Parlia- 
mentary borough of Tralee, population of 9,506. The 
county is the diocese of Ardfert and Aghadoe; it returns 
3 members to Parliament, 2 for the county, constituency 
5,409 with 29 polling places, and 1 for Tralee borough, 
constituency 322. The towns, Killarney, Listowel, 
Dingle, Cahirciveen, Castle-Island, Kenmare, Killorglin, 
Ballylongford, Torbert, Castlegregory, Militown. 

KILDARE COUNTY. 

Kildaee, an inland county in Leinster province. 
Boundaries: N. Meath; E.Dublin and Wicklow; S. Car- 
low; W. Queens, Kings and Westmeath. Length N. and 
S. 40 miles; breadth E. and W. 27; comprising an area 
of 418,497 acres, of which 138,146 are under tillage, 218- 
035 in pasture, 7,585 in plantations, 53,741 waste, bog, 
mountain, etc., and 1,017 under water. The subsoil is 
limestone and clay-slate; the surface level, with a few 
low hills interspersed. The rivers, Liffey and Barrow, 
pass through the county; the Boyne rises in its N. part. 
The Grand and Royal canals traverse it, as also the 
Great Southern and Western railway, passing through or 
near the towns of Naas, Newbridge, Kildare, Monastera- 
ven, and Athy, and the Midland Great Western railway 
passing near the towns of Leixlip, Maynooth, Kilcock, 
and Enfield. It contains 50,000 acres of bog; the Com- 
mon, called the Curragh, covers 5,000 acres. Large quan- 



268 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

tities of turf are sent to Dublin by the canals. The oc- 
cupations are chiefly agricultural, but there are some 
woolen, cotton, and paper factories; adjoining the town 
of Maynooth is the Roman Catholic College of St. Pat- 
rick. The county is divided into 14 baronies, viz.: Car- 
bury, Clane, Connell, Ikeathy and Oughterany, Kilcullen, 
Kilkea and Moone, Naas N., Naas S., Narragh and Re- 
ban E., Narragh and Reban W., Offaly E., Offaly W., 
Salt N., Salt S„ and contains 116 parishes, and 1,244 
town lands, having a population of 83,614, or 15,032 
families, inhabiting 14,166 houses; also 353 uninhabited, 
and 26 building. The county returns two members to 
Parliament; constituency 2,907, with 15 polling places. It 
is in the Home circuit. The towns are iVthy, Naas, New- 
bridge, Maynooth, Celbridge, Kildare, Monastereven, 
Kilcullen, Leixlip, Kilcock, Castledermot, Ballymore, 
Eustace, Rathangan. 

KILKENNY COUNTY. 

Kilkenny, an inland county in Leinster province. 
Boundaries: N. Queen's County; E. Carlow and Wex- 
ford; S. Waterford; W. Tipperary. Length N. and S., 
46 miles; breadth E. and W. 24 miles; comprising an 
area of 509,732 acres, of which 118,373 are under tillage, 
286,948 in pasture, 11,281 in plantations, 90,074 waste 
bog, mountain, etc., and 3,056 under water. The surface 
is generally level, with some mountains; the subsoil 
chiefly limestone, with clay-slate and sandstone in the 
higher parts. A sulphurous coal, used for smelting and 
smiths' works and for culinary and domestic purposes, is 
raised at Castlecomer. The soil is light, loamy and very 
fertile in the valleys. The Nora passes through the 
middle of the county. The Barrow borders it E. and the 
Suir S. Both of these border rivers are navigable to a 
considerable distance, as is the Nora, for small barges. 
The occupations are agricultural; the manufactures flour, 
beer, whisky, and leather. The county is divided into 
10 baronies: Callan, Crannagh, Fassadinin, Galmoy, 
Gowran, Ida, Iverk, Kells, Knocktopher, Shillelogher, 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 269 

and contains 140 parishes and 1,605 town lands, having a 
population of 109,379, or 21,968 families, inhabiting 21,- 
079 houses, also 475 uninhabited, and 27 building. Its 
principal town is Kilkenny City; the county town popu- 
lation 12,710. The county is in Ossory diocese, except a 
small portion in Leighlin. It returns 3 members to 
Parliament, 2 for the county; constituency, 4,978 with 16 
polling places, and 1 for Kilkenny City; constituency 
696. It is in the Leinster circuit. The towns are Callan, 
Castlecomer, Graiguenamanagh, Thomastown, Arling- 
ford, Ballyragget, Freshford, Gowran, Innistiog, Moon- 
coin, Mullinavat, Johnstown. 

KINGS COUNTY. 

Kings County, an inland county in Leinster province. 
Boundaries: N. Westmeath; E. Meath and Kildare; S. 
Queens and Tipperary; W. Tipperary, Galway and 
Roscommon. Length E. and W. 45 miles, breadth N. 
and S. 39 miles; comprising an area of 493,985 acres, of 
which 130,583 are under tillage, 222,680 in pasture, 8,- 
129 in plantation, 130,860 waste, bog, mountain, etc., 
and 1,733 under water. The southern part is hilly, com- 
prising a small portion of the Slieve Bloom Mountains, 
the remainder is comparatively flat; Croghan Hill in the 
N. E. rises to 769 feet ; the bog of Allen covers a large 
portion of the centre, and extends from east to west the 
whole length of the county. The Shannon skirts it on 
the west, the little Brosna on the south, and the river 
Brosna passes through the north. The Grand Canal 
traverses the county from Edenderry in the extreme east 
to Shannon harbor in the west. The Athlone extension 
of the Great Southern and Western Railway traverses 
it from S. E. to N. W., passing through Portarlington, 
Tullamore and Clare ; and in the south there is a branch 
of the same railway from Roscrea to Parsonstown. The 
soil is of average quality. The greater part a light loam 
of medium depth resting on limestone gravel. The oc- 
cupations are agricultural; manufactures being only for 
home consumption. The county is divided into 12 Baron- 



270 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

ies viz : Ballyboy, Ballybritt, Ballycowan, Clonlisk, 
Coolestown, Eglish, Garrycastle, Geashill, Kilcoursey, 
Phillipstown L., Phillipstovvn U., Warrenstown; and con- 
tains 51 Parishes with 1,181 town lands, having a popu- 
lation of 75,900 persons, or 15,595 families, inhabiting 
14,799 houses ; also 129 uninhabited, and 25 building. 
It is in the dioceses of Kildare and Meath, Killaloe, 
with portions in Ossory and Clonfert. Tullymore, the 
county town, has a population of 5,179. The county 
returns two members to Parliament; constituency, 3,368, 
with 17 polling places. It is in the home circuit. The 
towns are : Parsonstown, Edenderry, Banagher, part of 
Portarlington, Glara, Phillipstown, Frankford and Shin- 
rone. 

LEITRIM COUNTY. 

Leitrim, a maritime county in Con naught province. 
Boundaries: N. Donegal Biy,'. Donegal and Fermanagh; 
E. Fermanaugh and Cavan; S. Longford; W Roscom- 
mon and Slisfo. Length N. and S. 51 miles: breadth E. 
and W. 21 miles; comprising an area of 392,363 acres, of 
which 86,738 are under tillage, 212,032 in pasture, 3265 
in plantations, 66,580 waste, bog, mountain, etc., and 
23,748 under water. The Shannon, which flows through 
Lough Allen in this county, forms its western boundary; 
the other large lakes are Loughs Macnean, Melvin, Gill, 
Rinn, Beelhovel, Scurr, St. John's and Garadice. The 
soil is cold, stiff and retentive, but fertile in the valleys, 
where the subsoil is limestone. The county is intersected 
by a canal uniting the Shannon at Carrick-on-Shannon, 
with Lough Erne at Ballyconnell. Iron and lead 
ores are abundant ; also coal in Slieve Aderien moun- 
tain, and on the south side of Lough Allen, where it is 
raised to some extent. Linens and coarse woolen for 
domestic use are manufactured. The extension of the 
Midland Great Western Railway from Longford to Sligo 
is open through the southern part of the county, by 
Newtown forbes, Rooskey, Dromod, Drumsna and Car- 
rick-on-Shannon ; and the railway from Enniskillen to 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 271 

Bundoran and Sligo is open to Bundoran. The county 
is divided into 5 baronies, viz : Carrigallen, Drumahaire, 
fton ' Rosclogher, and contains 17 parishes, 

with 1489 town lands, having a population of 95 562 
persons or 17,835 families, inhabiting 17,373 houses, 
also 2^6 uninhabited, and 52 building. It is in Kilmore 
and Ardagh dioceses, and in the Conn aught circuit. The 
largest town is the county town of Carrick-on-Shannon 
with a population of 1442. The county returns 2 mem- 
bers to Parliament ; constituency 2538, with 14 poll- 
ing places. The towns are Mohill, Manorhamilton, Bal- 
lmamore. 

LIMERICK COUNTY. 

Limerick, a maritime county in Munster province. 
Boundaries: N. the estuary of the Shannon, Clare and 
Tipperary; E Tipperary ; S. Cork; W. Kerry. Length N. 
and b. 3o miles; breadth E. and W. 54 miles; compris- 
ing an area of 680,842 acres, of which 189,176 are under 
tillage 404,467 in pasture, 8,734 in plantations, 59,991 
waste bog, mountain, &c, and 18,474 under water The 
surface is an undulating plain, watered by the Maigue, 
lJeel and Mulcair, and rising into mountains in the N. E. 
; an mu Th ° subsoiI is limestone, trap and sand- 
stone. Ihe soil is peculiarly fertile, particularly in the 
morasses aiong the Shannon and in the Golden Vale, which 
extends from the borders of Tipperary westward through 
the centre of the county. The occupations are chiefly 
agricultural; pasturage and dairy farming are most culti- 
vated; tillage less attended to. Large quantities of pro- 
duce are exported; the manufactures are coarse woolens 
paper, flour, meal. The county is divided into 14 Bar- 
onies, yiz^ Clanwilliam, Connello, L., Connello U. 
Coonagh, Coshlea, Coshma, Glenquin, Henry, Kilmallock. 
Limerick (North Liberties), Owneybeg, Pubblebrien,' 
fohamd, femail county, and contains 131 Parishes, with 2067 
town lands, having a population of 191,936 persons, or 36,- 
89o families, inhabiting 31,863houses; also 829 uninhabit- 
ed, and 38 building. The county is in Limerick and Emly 



272 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

dioceses, with small portions in Cashel and Killaloe. The 
principal towns are the city and Parliamentary borough 
of Limerick, population 49,980. The county returns 4 
members to Parliament, 2 for the county at large; constit- 
uency 6,309,with 23 polling plaees, and 2 for Limerick city, 
constituency 1,947. It is in the Munster circuit. Towns: 
Rathkeale, Newcastle, BrufF, Askeaton,Kilfinane, Kilmal- 
lock, Abbeyfeale, Cappamore, Croom, Glin, Ballingarry, 
Adare, Hospital, Drumcolloher, Ballylanders, Bruree. 

LONDONDERRY COUNTY. 

Londonderry, a maritime county in Ulster province. 
Boundaries: N. Lough Foyle and the Atlantic Ocean; 
E. Antrim and Lough Neagh; S. Tyrone; W. Donegal. 
Length N. and S. "40 miles; breadth E. and W. 34 
miles; comprising an area of 522,315 acres, of which 196,- 
887 are under tillage, 228,186 in pasture, 5,483 in plan- 
tations, 82,279 waste, bog, mountain, &c, and 9,480 
under water. The surface is hilly and rugged, with fer- 
tile tracts along the rivers. The rivers are the Bann 
(part of) on its E., the Foyle (part of) on its W. bound- 
ary, and the Faughan, Roe, and Moyola, with their numer- 
ous feeders, in the intermediate tracts. The subsoil is 
mica-slate, sandstone, and tabular trap; clay-slate, basalt 
and limestone are found in most districts. The chief 
crops are oats, barley, potatoes and flax, with some 
wheat. The staple manufacture is linen. The fourth 
part of the county is held by lease under the Irish So- 
ciety and six London companies, to whom the land was 
granted by James the II out of the forfeited estates of the 
Northern chiefs; the names of the companies are: 

IRISH SOCIETY. ACREAGE. VALUATION. 

Irish Society 6.075 £11,335 

Drapers' Company 27,025 14,859 

Fishmongers' Company 20,059 9,159 

Grocers' Company .... 11,638 6,457 

Ironmongers' Company.12,714 8,032 

Salters' Company 19,445 17,263 

Skinners' Company. . ..34,772 9,511 

Total. 132,178 £76,616 . 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 273 

^ The county is divided into 6 baronies, viz: Coleraine, 
Keenacrht, Longhinsholin, Northeast Liberties of Coler- 
aine, Northwest Liberties of Londonderry, Tvrkeeran, 
and containing- 43 parishes and 1,202 town lands, having 
a population of 173,906 persons, or 34,624 families, inhab- 
iting 32,590 houses; also 940 uninhabited, and 76 build- 
ing. 

The county is chiefly in Derry diocese, with portions 
in Armagh ' and Connor. The principal towns are Lon- 
donderry city and Parliamentary borough; population, 
25,242; and the Parliamentary borough of Coleraine, 
6,588. The county returns 4 members to Parliament, 
2 for the county at large; constituency, 5,615, with 18 
polling places; and one each for Londonderry city and 
Coleraine borough; constituencies, 1,759 and 482. Itisin 
the N. W. circuit. The towns are Limavady, Magher- 
afelt, Maghera, Kilrea, Garvagh, Dungiven, Monevmore, 
Castledawson, Tobermore, Portstewart, Draperstown. 

LONGFORD COUNTY. 

Longford, an inland county in Leinster province. 
Boundaries: N. Leitrim and Cavan; E. and W. West- 
meath; W. Roscommon. Length W. and S. 29 miles; 
breadth E. and W. 22 miles; comprising an area of 269,- 
409 acres, of which 79,709 are under tillage, 124,406 in 
pasture, 3,317 in plantations, 48,302 waste, bog, mountain, 
etc., and 13,675 under water. The surface is level, with 
some low hills. The subsoil is limestone and clay-slate; 
the soil fertile and well suited to pasturage, with much 
bog. The Inny, a tributary to the Shannon, takes its rise 
in Lough Kin ale, county Westmeath, and flows into the 
Shannon at Lough Ree. The Royal canal passes through 
the county to the town of Longford, and terminates in 
the Shannon at Clondra. Two branches of the Midland 
Great Western Railway pass through the county from 
Mullingar to Longford and Cavan. The occupations are 
tillage and grazing, chiefly the latter; linens and coarse 
woolens are manufactured. The county is divided into 6 
baronies, viz: Ardagh, Granard, Longford, Moydow, Rath- 
18 



274 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

cline, Shrule, containing 26 parishes, and 891 town lands, 
having a population of 64,501 persons, or 12,483 families, 
inhabiting 12,002 houses; also 196 uninhabited, and 28 
building. It is in Ardagh diocese with a small portion 
in Meath. The principal towns are Longford, the county 
town, population 4,375. The county returns 2 members 
to Parliament, constituency 2,731, with 12 polling places. 
It is in the N. W. circuit. The towns are Granard, Edge- 
worthstown, Ballvmahon. 



LOUTH COUNTY. 

Louth, a maritime county in Leinster province, and 
the smallest in Ireland. Boundaries, N. Armagh and 
Down; E. the Irish Sea; S. Meath; W. Meath and"Mona- 
ghan. Length N. and S. 25 miles, breadth E. and W. 15 
miles, comprising an area of 202,123 acres, of which 
108,071 are under tillage, 69,322 pasture, 4,882 in planta- 
tions, 21,595 waste, bog, etc., and 653 under water. It 
is intersected by 588 miles of roads kept in repair by the 
grand jury presentments. On its N. coast Carlingford 
Bay separates it from Down, on its S. the estuary of the 
Boyne from Meath; between both is the bay and harbor 
of Dundalk. The river Boyne, here navigable, skirts the 
county on the S. The surface is level or undulating, ex- 
cept on the N., where it is rugged and mountainous; the 
subsoil is clay-slate and graywacke, and in a few dis- 
tricts the mountain limestone carboniferous slate, old 
red sand stone in one place and granite. The soil is 
fertile except in the elevated tracts; tillage is much 
practiced; wheat, barley, oats and green crops are raised. 
The farms are well fenced and drained. Linen is manu- 
factured. The county is divided into 6 baronies, viz: 
Ardee, Drogheda, Dundalk L., Dundalk U., Ferrard, 
Louth, and contains 64 parishes and 674 town lands hav- 
ing a population of 84,021 persons, or 17,680 families, 
inhabiting 16,885 houses, also 718 uninhabited, and 35 
building. The county is in Armagh archdiocese, with a 
small portion in that of Meath. The principal towns are 
the town and Parliamentary borough of Dundalk; popula- 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 275 

tion 11,377; and the Parliamentary borough of Drogheda, 
15,246. 

The county returns 4 members to Parliament, 2 for the 
county at large, constituency 2,240, with 10 polling places: 
1 for Dundalk, constituency 541, and 1 for Drogheda, 
constituency 779. It is in the N. E. circuit. Towns are 
Ardee, Carlingford, Clogher, Collon, Oastlebellingham, 
Dunleer. 

MAYO COUNTY. 

Mayo, a maritime county in Connaught province; 
Boundaries: N. the Atlantic ocean; E. Sligo and Ros- 
common; S.. Galway; W. the Atlantic. Length 58 miles; 
breadth E. and W. 72 miles ; comprising an area of 
1,367,618 acres; of which 204,425 are under tillage, 520,- 
930 in pasture, 8,869 in plantations, 576,418 waste, bog, 
mountain, etc., and 56,976 under water. The coast is in- 
dented with the bays of Killala, Broadhaven, Blacksod, 
the two last being separated from each other by the nar- 
row isthmus of Belmullet, the entrance into the penin- 
sula of the Mullet, Tulloghane bay, Clew bay, studded 
with numerous islets and the Killeries. Near the coast 
are the islands of Achill, 35,283 acres; Clare, 3,959 acres; 
Inishturk, 1,451 acres; Innisboffin, 2,315 acres, and nu- 
merous smaller. The surface is of every character; much 
mountain and waste, and much level and fertile land. 
The summits of Muilrea, Nephin and Croagh Patrick are 
2,680, 2,530 and 2,370 feet above high sea level. On the 
summit of the last is a chapel dedicated to St. Patrick. 
The sub-soil in the level parts is limestone, in the other 
parts red sandstone, mica-slate, granite and quartz; iron 
ore abounds, but remains unwrought for want of fuel. 
There are several valuable slate quarries. Lakes Conn, 
Carragh, Cullen, Castlebar, Carramore, Fyogh, and some 
smaller are within the county. Tnose of Mask and 
Corrib border it on the S. The river Moy forms part of 
its E. boundary. The occupations are agriculture and 
fishing-. Pasture 2*e is more attended to than tillage. The 
linen manufacture flourished here, but has declined. 



276 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

The salmon fishery on the Moy, and the other rivers of 
the county, is very considerable. The county is divided 
into nine baronies, viz: Burrishoole, Carra, Clanmorris, 
Costello, Erris, Gallen, Kilmaine, Murrisk, Tirawley, and 
contains 73 parishes, having a population of 264,030, or 
45,360 families, inhabiting 43,999 houses, also 807 unin- 
habited, and 70 building. It is in the dioceses of Tuam, 
Killaia and Achonry. The county returns two members 
to Parliament; constituency 3,433, with 25 polling places. 
It is in the Connaught circuit. The towns are Ballina, 
part in Co. Sligo, Westport, Castlebar, Ballirobe, Bal- 
laghadereen, Swineford, Claremorris, Kiltamagh, Cross- 
molina, Belmullet, Newport, Charlestown, Foxford, Kil- 
laia, Louisburg, Ballyhaunis. 

MEATH COUNTY. 

Meath, a maritime county in Leinster province. — 
Boundaries: N. Cavan, Monaghan, and Louth; E. the 
Irish Sea and Dublin; S. Dublin, Kildare, and King's 
county; W. Westmeath. Length N. and S. 40 miles ; 
breadth E. and W. 47 miles; comprising an area of 579- 
861 acres, of which 167,604 are under tillage, 369,061 in 
pasture, 10,467 in plantations, 29,485 waste, bog, moun- 
tain, etc., and 3,244 under water. The county forms the 
E. part of the Great Limestone plain that extends over 
all the central portion of Ireland. It has only about 10 
miles of coast, and no harbor of importance. The sur- 
face is level or undulating, rising toward the W. and N. 
W. The soil a rich loam, very fertile. The rivers are 
the Boyne and the Blackwater. The Royal Canal pass- 
es through the county. The occupations are almost ex- 
clusively agricultural, chiefly grazing. Coarse linens are 
manufactured, and there are 3 woolen factories. The 
county is divided into 18 baronies, viz.: Deece L., Deece 
U., Duleek L., Duleek U., Dunboyne, Fore, Kells L., 
KellsU., Lune, Morgallion, Moyfenrath L., Moyfenrath U., 
Navan L., Navan U., Ratoath, Skreen,Slane L., Slane U., 
and contains 146 parishes, and 1,626 town lands, having a 
population of 95,558 persons, or 19,516 families, inhabit- 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 277. 

ing 18,814 houses; also 458 uninhabited, f and 43 build- 
ing. The county is in Meath diocese, with portions in 
Armagh and Kilmore. The county returns two members 
to Parliament, constituency of 4,254, with 19 polling- 
places. It is in the Home circuit. The towns are Na- 
van, Kells, Trim, Old Castle, Athboy, Duleek. 

MONAGHAN COUNTY. 

Moistaghan, an inland county in Ulster province. 
Boundaries: N. Tyrone; E. Armagh and Louth; S. Meath 
andCavan;W. Fermanagh. Length W. and S. 37 miles; 
breadth E. and W. 28 miles; comprising an area of 319,- 
741 acres, of which' 151,477 are under tillage, 132,178 in 
pasture, 4,617 in plantations, 25,955 waste, bog, moun- 
tain, etc., and 6,167 under water. The general surface 
is hilly and mountainous in the N. W., and to the E. join- 
ing Armagh; the highest point of the Slievebeagh range 
is 1,254 feet above high sea level. The soil is of every 
variety; that in the more level portion which forms the 
N. part of the great central limestone plain of Ireland, is 
very fertile, but the more hilly parts are a stiff clay, good 
for flax and corn, though very difficult to work. The 
lakes and rivers are numerous, but small; the N. Black- 
water, which fails into Lough Neagh, forms a part of the 
E. boundary. The Ulster canal passes through the county. 
The occupations are mostly agricultural; spade husbandry 
is much practiced; the main crops are oats, barley, pota- 
toes and flax; which latter, from its improved culture, is 
vastly increasing both in quantity and in value; the cul- 
ture of wheat and of green crops is increasing; the linen 
manufacture is reviving. The county is divided into five 
baronies, viz: Cremorne, Dartree, Farney, Monaghan, 
Trough, and containing 23 parishes and 1,850 town lands, 
having a population of 114,969 persons, or 23,168 fami- 
lies, inhabiting 22,420 houses; also 598 uninhabited, and 
42 building. It is wholly in the diocese of Clogher. The 
county returns two members to Parliament, constituency 
5334, with 12 polling places, and is in the N. E. circuit. 
The towns are Monaghan, Clones, Carrickmacross, Cas- 
tleblayney, Ballybay. 



278 GAZETTEER OE IRELAND. 

| QUEEN'S COUNTY. 

Queen's Count y, an inland county in Leinster prov- 
ince. Boundaries: N. King's; E. Kildare and Carlow; S. 
Kilkenny ; W. Tipperary and King's. Length N. and 
S. 33 miles ; breadth E. and "W. 37 miles; comprising 
an area of 424,854 acres, of which 151,994 are under 
tillage, 211,159 in pasture, 9,141 in plantations, 52,164 
waste, bog, mountain, etc., and 396 under water. The 
surface is generally flat, rising in the north-west into the 
Slieve-Bloom Mountains, whose summit, Arderin, is 1,- 
734 feet above the sea. The sub-soil is for the most part 
limestone; in the south is a large and rich field of anthra- 
cite coal, extensively worked. The soil is generally fer- 
tile with large tracts of bog. The Barrow, has its source 
in the Slieve-Bloom Mountains, the Nore runs through 
the county ; the small lake Annagh is on the north boun- 
dary. A branch of the Grand Canal, passing by Port- 
arlington, terminates at Mountmellick ; and a second 
branch passing through a portion of the county, connects 
the Grand Canal with the Barrow navigation at Athy. 
Tne Great Southern and Western Railway crosses the 
county from N. E. to S. W., having stations at Portarling- 
ton, with a branch line to Athlone, Maryborough, Mount- 
rath and Bally brophy, with a branch to Parson stown. 
The occupations are agricultural; tillage is much prac- 
tised ; green crops and cultivated dairies numerous. The 
county is divided into 11 baronies, viz : Ballyadams, 
Clandonagh, Clarmallagh, Cullenagh, Maryborough E., 
Maryborough W., Portnahinch, Slievemargy, Stradbally, 
Tinnahinch and Upperwoods, and contains 53 parishes, 
and 1,156 town lanjis, having a population of 79,771 per- 
sons, or 16,198 families, inhabiting 15,519 houses, also 279 
uninhabited, and 46 building. The baronies of Clandon- 
agh, Clarmallagh and Upperwoods, formerly constituted 
the barony of upper Ossory. The county is in the dio- 
ceses of Leighlin and Ossory, with portions in those of 
Kildare, Killaloe and Dublin. The county returns 3 
members to Parliament, 2 for the county ; constituency 
3,398, with 18 polling places, and 1 for the borough of 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. " 279 

Portarlington; constituency 141. It is in the Home 
Circuit. The towns are Mountmeliick, Maryborough, 
Mountrath, Portarlington part in King's County, Ab- 
beyleix, Stradbally, Rathdowney, Burrow, Ballynakill, 
Borris-i n- Ossory . 



ROSCOMMON COUNTY. 

Roscommon, an inland county in Con naught province. 
Boundaries: N. Sligo and Leitrim; E. and S. Leitrim, 
Longford, Westmeath, Kings and Galway; W. Galway 
and Mayo; length 60 miles, breadth 40 miles; comprising 
an area of 607,691 acres, of which 136,109 are under 
tillage, 333,291 in pasture, 7,677 in plantations, 101,249 
waste, bog, mountain, etc., and 29,370 under water. 
The surface is undulating or flat except towards the N., 
where the Curlew mountains lie near Sligo, and the 
Branlieve near Leitrim. The Shannon, with the Loughs, 
Boffin, Bodarigg and Ree, form part of the E., and the 
Suck the W. boundary. Lough Key is in the N. and 
Lough Gara in the W. of ,the county. The soil in the 
level parts is very fertile; the subsoil is limestone; coal 
and iron have been wrought, but never to advantage; 
bogs are numerous. The occupations are agricultural; 
grazing is chiefly attended to. The linen manufacture 
is declining. The county is divided into 9 baronies, viz: 
Athlone, Ballintober, N. Ballintober, S. Ballymoe, 
Boyle, Castlereagh, Frenchpark, Moycarn, Roscommon, 
and containing 53 parishes, 7 parts of parishes, and 1,995 
town lands, having a population of 140,670 persons, or 
26,539 families, inhabiting 25,782 houses; also 558 unin- 
habited, and 48 building. It is in Elphin diocese, with 
small portions in those of Tuam, Clonfert and Ardagh. 
The county town is Roscommon, which has only a popula- 
tion of 2,375. The part of the Parliamentary borough 
of Athlone, in this county, has a population of 3,428, and 
the remainder, 3,137, is in Westmeath; a small portion 
of the town of Ballinasloe, 893 persons is in this county; 
The remaining population, 4,159, is in Galway county; 
122 persons in the town of Carrick-on-Shannon is in this 



280 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

county and the remainder, 1,320, are in Leitrim county. 
The county returns 2 members to Parliament, 'consti- 
tuency 3,699 with 22 polling places. It is' in the Con- 
n aught circuit. The towns are Boyle, Castlerea, Eiphin, 
Stroke stown. 



SLIGO COUNTY. 

Sligo, a maritime county in Connaught province. 
Boundaries: N. Atlantic ocean; E. Leitrim; S. Roscom- 
mon and Mayo; W. Mayo. Length N. and S. 38 miles; 
breadth E. and W. 41 miles; comprising an area of 461,- 
796 acres, of which 97,558 are under tillage, 222,199 in 
pasture, 6,272 in plantations, 123,027 waste, bog, moun- 
tain, etc., and 12,740 under water. The coast is indented 
by Sligo and Killala bays. Near it are the islets of In- 
nismurry, Oyster and Coney. The surface has much 
mountain and much level ground. The soil in many 
parts is a light sandy loam, in others it is deep and rich; 
many patches of bog are interspersed. The sub-soil in 
the level county is limestone., The Moy forms part of 
the west boundary of the county. The Loughs are Gill, 
Arrow, Gara, Talt, Easky, and several smaller. The oc- 
cupations are agricultural; coarse woolens and linens are 
manufactured. The county is divided into six baronies, 
viz.: Carbury, Coolavin, Corran, Leyny, Tireragh, Tirer- 
rill, and contains thirty-seven parishes and four parts of 
parishes, 1,292 town lands, having a population of 115,493 
persons, or 21,667 families, inhabiting 20,979 houses; also 
537 uninhabited, and 39 building. It is in the dioceses 
of Achonry and Eiphin, with portions in Killala and 
Ardagh. The county town of Sligo has 10,670 inhabi- 
tants, and the portion of the town of Ballina in this 
county has 1,536 inhabitants, the remaining persons, 
4,301, being in the county of Mayo. The county returns 
two members to Parliament; constituency 3,473, with 17 
polling places. It is in the Connaught circuit. The 
towns are Ballvmote and Tobercurrv. 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 281 



TIPPERARY COUNTY. 



Tipperary, an inland county in Munster province. 
Boundaries : N. Galway and Kings; E. Kings, Queens 
and Kilkenny; S. Waterford; N. Cork, Limerick, Clare 
and Galway. Length N. and S. 70 miles; breadth, E. 
and W. 40 miles, comprising an area of 1,061,731, of 
which 292,084 are under tillage, 583,774 in pasture, 
25,895 in plantations, 146,377 waste, hog, mountain, etc., 
and 13,523 under water. The surface rises into the 
the mountains of Knockmeledown, the Galtees and 
Slievenamon in the S., the group of which Keeperhill 
is the principal in the W., and into the Slievardagh hills 
E. The soil of the level country is a rich calcareous 
loam of extraordinary fertility, particularly in the tract 
called the Golden Vein, extending from Limerick to the 
confines of Kilkenny county, and in the centre of which 
is Tipperary town, and in another similar tract of level 
ground in the Ormond baronies. The Suir and Nore 
rise in the Devil's Bit Mountain, near Templemore, the 
former for the greater part of its course running through 
the county ; the Shannon forms part of its western 
boundary. The sub-soil is clay-slate in mountain dis- 
tricts, and limestone in the more level tracts, which form 
part of the great central plain of Ireland, and include 
some branches of the bog of Allen. The mineral pro- 
ductions are coal, copper and lead. Zinc in large quan- 
tities has lately been discovered at Silvermines ; also 
excellent fire-clay ; slates of a good quality are exten- 
sively raised near Killaloe, copper at Hollyford, and lead 
at Shallee, are found most abundantly; the lead is rich in 
silver. The occupations are almost wholly agricultural. 
The produce is principally corn; wheat is grown in large 
quantities and of a superior quality; dairies are numerous, 
affording an export of large quantities of butter. Flour 
and meal are also largely manufactured and exported. 
The woolen trade which flourished in the southern part, 
is nearly extinct. The county is divided into two Ridings, 
N. and S., each consisting of six baronies, viz: North 
Riding, Eliogarty, Ikerrin, Kilnamanagh, U. } Ormond, L., 



282 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

Ormond, U. Owney and Arra. South Riding: Olanwil- 
liam, Ma and Offa E.; Iffa and Offa W.; Kilnamagh, 
Middlethird, Slievardagh, and contains 193 parishes, and 
3,253 town lands, having- a population of 216,715 persons, 
or 42,000 families, inhabiting 38,554 houses; also 1,265 
uninhabited, and 108 building. It is in the dioceses of 
Cashel, Emly, Killaloe and Lisraore. The county returns 
3 members to Parliament — 2 for the county at large; con- 
stituency 8,740, with 27 polling places, and one for the 
borough of Clonmel; constituency 442. It is in the 
Leinster circuit. The towns are Clonmel 874, being in 
Co. Waterford, Carrick-on-Suir 1,482, being in Co. Wat- 
erford; Nenagh, Tipperary, Thurles, Cashel, Templemore, 
Roscrea, Caher, Fethard, Newport, Killenaule, Borriso- 
kane, Mullinahone, Borrisoleigh, Cloughjordan, Cappagh, 
Ballyporeen. 

TYRONE COUNTY. 

Tyrone, an inland county in Ulster province. Boun- 
daries: N. Londonderry; E. Lough Neagh and Armagh; 
S. Monaghan and Fermanagh; W. Fermanagh and Done- 
gal. Length N. and S. 46 miles ; breadth E. and W. 
60 miles; comprising an area of 806,658 acres, of which 
275,423 are under tillage, 264,271 in pasture, 9,195 in 
plantations, 226,366 waste bog, mountain, etc., and 31,796 
under water. The surface hilly, rising into mountains in 
the N. and S., and declining to a level towards Lough 
Neagh; the soil in the lower districts is fertile and wa- 
tered by numerous branches of the Foyle andBlackwater 
rivers. Coal fit for domestic purposes is raised near Dun- 
gannon and Coal Island, a thriving and populous village; 
and indications of lead, coal, copper and iron are frequent 
in the hilly districts. Tillage is practiced on improved 
principles in the fertile parts. Young cattle are reared 
in the hilly and mountain districts. The manufactures are 
linens, coarse woolens, whiskey, beer, flour, meal, chemi- 
cals, soap, candles, and coarse earthenware. The county 
is divided into 8 baronies, viz : Clogher, Dungannon L., 
Dungannon Middle, Dungannon W., Omagh E., Omagh 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 283 

W., StrabaneL., StrabaneU., and contains 46 parishes and 
2,164 town' lands, having a population of 215,765 persons, 
or 42,747 families, inhabiting 41,522 houses ; also 1,340 
uninhabited, and 81 building. It is in Armagh and Deny 
dioceses, with a small portion in that of Ologher. The 
county returns three members to Dvrliament — two for the 
county at large; constituency 8,942, with 22 polling 
places, and one for Dungannon borough; constituency 
256. The county is in the N. W. circuit. 

The towns are Strabane, Dungannon, Omagh, Cooks- 
town, Aughnacloy, Fintona, Newtownstewart, Stewarts- 
town, Quin, Castlederg, Droraore, Fivemiletown, Coal 
Island, Moy, Caledon, Ballygawley, Pomeroy. 

WATERFORD county. 

Waterford, a maritime county in Munster prov- 
ince. Boundaries: N. Tipperary and Kilkenny; E. 
Wexford; S. Atlantic Ocean; W. Cork. Length N. 
and S. 28 miles; breadth E. and W. 52 miles, com- 
prising an area of 461,522 acres, of which 106,754 are un- 
der tillage, 229,464 in pasture, 19,899 in plantations, 
99,520 waste, bog, mountain, etc., and 5,779 under water. 
The surface is mountainous, the principal ranges being 
Knockmeledon, Cummeragh, Monevolagh and Drum; to- 
wards the E. it is low and marshy. The Suir bounds it 
on the N., and its estuary called Waterford harbor, on 
the E.; the Blackwater, with its estuary called Youghal 
harbor, on the W. On the coast are the bays Tramore, 
Dungarvan and Ardmore, and at a distance from land, 
the Nymph bank, once thought to afford an inexhausti- 
ble supply of fish, but now less highly estimated. Lead 
and iron mines have been wrought, but generally with lit- 
tle profit; the copper mineral wealth is of high value; one 
mine, the Knockmahon, worked by the Irish Mining Com- 
pany, is very productive. Near Cappoquin and White- 
church are valuable quarries of marble. The occupations 
are chiefly pasturage and dairy farming. Large quanti- 
ties of butter and bacon are exported. Cotton is manu- 
factured. The county is divided into 8 baronies, viz.: 



284 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

Coshmore and Coshbride, Decies within Drum, Decies 
without Drum, Gaultiere, Glenahiry, Kilculliheen, Mid- 
dlethird, Upperthird, which with Waterford City, con- 
tains 82 parishes and 1,557 town lands, having a popula- 
tion of 123,310 persons, or 24,225 families, inhabiting 
21,252 houses; also 820 uninhabited, and 48 building. It 
returns 5 members to Parliament, 2 for the county at 
large, constituency 3,279, with 16 polling places, 2 for 
"Waterford City; constituency 1,297, and 1 for Dungarvan 
borough, constituency 340. The towns are Waterford, 
Dungarvan, Portlaw, Tramore, Lismore, Cappoquin, Tal- 
low Passage, Kilmacthomas, Bunmahon. 

WESTMEATH COUNTY. 

Westmeath, an inland county in Leinster province. 
Boundaries: N. Longford and Meath; E. Meath; S. Kings; 
W. Roscommon. Length N. and S. 35 miles; breadth 
E. and W. 40 miles; comprising an area of 453,468 acres, 
of which 111,752 are under tillage, 253,964 in pasture, 
8,427 in plantations, 54,898 waste, bog, mountain, etc., 
and 22,427 under water. The surface is very picturesque, 
being much diversified with hill, valley, lake, but no 
mountain. The soil is fertile, on a limestone sub-soil; 
there is much bog. The principal lakes are Ree, an ex- 
pansion of the Shannon in the W., Sheelin in the N., 
and Dereveragh, Owel and Ennel, the source of the Bros- 
na, in the interior. The occupations are wholly agricul- 
tural, chiefly grazing and dairy farming; the crops, oats 
and potatoes, with some wheat. Flour and meal are 
manufactured in large quantities. The Royal canal passes 
through the county, and a branch of the Grand canal to 
Kilbeggan. The county is divided into 12 baronies, viz: 
Brawney, Clonlonan, Corkaree, Delvin, Farbill, Fartullagh 
Fore, Kilkenny, W., Moyashel and Magheradernon Moy- 
cashel, Moygoish, Rathconrath, and contains 63 parishes 
and 1,356 town lands, with a population of 78,432 per- 
sons, or 15,854 families, inhabiting 15,152 houses; also 
456 uninhabited, and 36 building. It is in Meath diocese, 
with a small portion in that of Ardagh. The county re- 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 285 

turns three members to Parliament, two for the county at 
large; constituency 3,552, with 17 polling places, and one 
for Athlone borough; constituency 342. It is in the 
home circuit. The towns are Athlone, Mull in gar, Moate, 
Kilbeggan, Castlepollard, Kinnegad, Delvin, Clonmellon. 

WEXFORD COUNTY. 

Wexford, a maritime county in Leinster province. 
Boundaries: N. Wicklow; E. St. George's Channel; S. At- 
lantic Ocean; W. Waterford, Kilkenny and Carlow. 
Length N. and S. 55 miles; breadth 34 miles, comprising 
an area of 576,588 acres, of which 244,270 are under til- 
lage, 273,884 in pasture, 11,763 in plantations, 42,997 
waste, bog, mountain, etc., and 3,668 under water. The 
eastern coast is dangerous from sandbanks, and unpro- 
vided with harbors ; that of Wexford being barred, and 
Courtown fit only for small craft. Off the S. coast are 
the islands of the Saltees, Koningsmore and Koningsbeg, 
near the latter of which there is a floating light ; and off 
Carnsore point, the S. E. extremity of Ireland, is the 
Tusker Rock, with a revolving light, two faces bright and 
one red. The surface is hilly, rising into the ridge of 
Mount Leinster and Blackstairs on the N. W., and de- 
clining into a level peninsula to the S. E. The Slaney, 
navigable for barges to Enniscorthy, passes through the 
county. The Barrow, navigable for the large vessels to 
New Ross, and for barges to Athy, skirts it on the W. 
The greater portion of the soil is a light or stiff clay, 
chiefly on a sub-soil of clay-slate. The occupations are 
mostly agricultural; dairies are numerous. The chief crops, 
oats, barley and potatoes, with beans, in Firth and Bargy, 
which are inhabited by a colony from Pembrokeshire, set- 
tled there on the first landing of the English ; much 
round fish is taken on the coast. The county is divided 
into 10 baronies, viz: Ballaghkeen N., Ballaghkeen S., 
Bantry, Bargy, Forth, Gorey, Scarawalsh, Shelburne, 
Shelmaliere E., Shelmaliere W., and contains 144 par- 
ishes and 1,600 town lands, having a population of 132,666 
persons, or 27,373 families, occupying 24,982 houses; also 



286 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

495 uninhabited, and 38 building. It is in Ferns diocese, 
with a small portion in that of Dublin. The county re- 
turns four members to Parliament, two for the county at 
large; constituency 6,018, with 14 polling places, and one 
for each of the boroughs of Wexford and New Ross; con- 
stituencies 508 and 218. It is in the Leinster circuit. 

The towns are Wexford, New Ross, Enniscorthy, Gorey, 
Newtownbarry, Duncannon and Ferns. 

WICKLOW COUNTY. 

Wicklow, a maratime county in Leinster province. 
Boundaries: N. Dublin; E. St. George's Channel ; r S. Wex- 
ford; W. Carlow and Kildare. Length 40 miles; breadth 
33 miles, comprising an area of 500,178 acres, of which 
117,999 are under tillage, 249,206 in pasture, 19,557 in 
plantations, and 112,326 in waste, bog, mountain, etc., and 
1,090 under water. The coast is mostly precipitous, and 
dangerous from sand-banks, the N. and S. extremities of 
which are marked by floating lights; there are also 2 
fixed lights on Wicklow Head. The surface is much di- 
versified and highly picturesque, rising in the interior 
into mountain groups, the highest summit of which is 
Lugnaquilla, 3,039 feet above high sea level, and inter- 
sected by deep and romantic valleys, of which the princi- 
pal are Glenmalur, Glen of ImaiJ, Glen of the Downs, 
Devil's Glen, and the Vale of Avoca; it declines to the 
sea on the E., and to the general level of the country on 
the W. The principal lakes are Loughs, Tay or Lugge- 
law, Dan, Bray, and Glendelough. The Liffey and Slaney 
rise in the county; the Avonmore, or Avoca, flows 
through it. The sub-soil is granite in the mountain dis- 
tricts, and clay-slate on the declivities. The mining op- 
erations are very considerable — lead and copper being 
raised in quantities; gold has also been found. The soil 
is very fertile in the lower tracts, and along the river 
courses. Marl is found in many places. The occupa- 
tions, excepting the Avoca district, are almost wholly ag- 
ricultural; the crops, oats, potatoes, and some wheat; 
pasturage much attended to; the fisheries neglected; the 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 287 

manufacture of flannels, once extensive, now nearly ex- 
tinct. 

The county town of Wicklow is connected with 
Dublin by a railway, which is extended through the 
Vale of Avoca and mining district as far as Enniscorthy. 
Wicklow has also a s:ood hotel on the Murrain, 
close to the railway station. The mines of the count}' 
have attracted a good deal of attention, and of late min- 
ing operations have been considerably increased. The 
county is divided into eio-ht baronies, namelv: Ark- 
low, Ballinacor N., Ballinacor S., Newcastle, Rathdown, 
Shillelagh, Talbotstown L., Talbotstown U., and contains 
59 parishes. It is in the dioceses of Dublin and Grlen- 
delough, with portions in those of Leighlin and Ferns, with 
a population of 78,697, or 14,734 families, inhabiting 14,- 
111 houses; also 625 uninhabited, and 47 building. The 
county returns 2 members to Parliament; constituency 
3,527, with 17 polling places. It is in the Leinster cir- 
cuit. The towns are Bray, Arklow, Wicklow, Baltin- 
glass, Rathdrum, Carnew, Rathnew, Dunlavin. 



Cities and Boroughs. 



ARMAGH CITY. 

Armagh, an inland city and parliamentary borough, 
in Armagh barony and county, province of Ulster. 64 
miles N. N. W. from Dublin, and 30 miles from Belfast; 
comprising within its municipal boundary 269 acres; pop- 
ulation 8,946, inhabiting 1,626 houses, being the most 
populous inland town in Ireland excepting Kilkenny, 
Lurgan, Clonmel, and Newtown ards. It is the seat of 
the Archiepiscopal See of the Primate of Ireland. The 
town stands on the acclivities of a hill, of which the Ca- 
thedral tops the summit. There are also a Protestant 
Chapel of Ease, a Roman Catholic Cathedral, 1 Roman 



288 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

Catholic Chapel, 2 Methodist, 3 Presbyterian, and 1 In- 
dependent. The other public buildings are the County 
Court house, District Probate Registry Court, Prison, In- 
firmary, Fever Hospital, District Lunatic Asylum, Macan 
Asylum for the blind, Sheil's Almshouses, 21 in num- 
ber, the Royal School, a Public Library, built and en- 
dowed by Primate Robinson, Market House, Linen Hall, 
Yarn Hall, Music Hall and Tontine buildings, in which 
is a large public assembly room, and a spacious news- 
room, Drelin court's School, Roman Catholic Seminary, 
and other schools, an Observatory, and the Natural His- 
tory and Philosophical Society's house, also barracks for 
200 men. The Callan, which empties itself into the Black- 
water, passes near the town, and the Ulster Canal within 
4 miles. Railways connect the town with Belfast ,Newry, 
Warrenpoint, Greenore, Londonderry, Sligo, Dublin, etc. 
The borough returns 1 member to Parliament; constitu- 
ency, 584. Rateable value of property £16,613. The 
borough receipts amount to £729, and the expenditure 
£716. Markets are held on Tuesday for general pur- 
poses, and on Wednesday and Saturday for grain, and a 
fair, for the sale of horses, cows and sheep, on the first 
Thursday of the month. There are two newspapers pub- 
lished in the city — the Armagh Guardian and the Ulster 
Gazette. 

ATHLONE BOROUGH. 

Athlone, an inland town and Parliamentary borough 
in Westmeath and Roscommon counties, partly in 
Leinster and partly in Connaught province, 76 miles 
west from Dublin; the boundaries for municipal purposes 
being defined in Local Act of 1852, and for Parliament- 
ary purposes were extended to the same limit by the Re- 
form Act of 1868. It is situated on both sides of the 
river Shannon, and being considered one of the principal 
military positions in Ireland, is secured by strong works 
on the Roscommon side, covering 15 acres and contain- 
ing 2 magazines, an ordnance store, an armory for 
15,000 stand of arms, and barracks for 1,500 men. The 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 289 

Shannon commissioners have much improved the naviga- 
tion of the river at this place by the construction of 
large lock custom wharves, a wier wall, and the magnifi- 
cent cut-stone bridge. Large river steamers can now 
ply without interruption from Killaloe to Carrick-on- 
Shannon, a distance of 116 miles. A brisk trade with 
Dublin and Limerick is maintained by means of the 
river and the Royal and Grand Canals, and Midland, 
Great Western, and Great Southern, and Western Rail- 
ways, besides which the Great Northern and Western 
Railway has its eastern terminus here. There are in the 
town 2 Parochial churches, 2 Roman Catholic churches, 
Franciscan and Augustinian chapels, Presbyterian, 
Baptist, and 2 Methodist meeting-houses, and a dilapi- 
dated court-house, and Bridewell on the Roscommon side 
of the river. A new court-house is about to be erected 
on an improved site. There is a bi-weekly market for 
grain, iind the cattle-fairs and markets are growing in 
importance, owing to the central position of the town 
and the extensive railway communication. A woolen 
factory has been established by Messrs. Gleeson & 
Smyth. There is a valuable fishery adjoining the weir 
wall. The population, 6,5(36, inhabiting 1,093 houses. 
The property of the extinguished corporation is vested 
in the town commissioners. The borough returns 1 
member to Parliament; constituency 352. Rateable value 
of property, £9,535; town receipts, £2,699; expenditure, 
£2,629; debt, £1,784. The Westmeath Independent 
newspaper is published here on Saturday. 

BELFAST BOROUGH. 

Belfast, a maritime town and Parliamentary borough, 
the capital of Ulster, the chief manufacturing and com- 
mercial town of Ireland, and since 1850 the County town 
of Antrim, chiefly in Antrim county, 101 miles north of 
Dublin, comprising an area in the new boundary of 5,992 
acres, including 1,670 acres in the suburb of Ballyma- 
carrett, County Down. In 1851 the population was 100,- 
031, in '61, 121,602, inhabiting 10,595 houses, and in '71 
19 



290 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

the population had increased to 174,412, occupying 27,- 
691 houses. The rateable property under the general 
Valuation Acts amounted in '62 to £278,807, increased to 
£489,824 in '76, being an increase in 14 years of £211,017. 
The number of new buildings erected within the borough 
during the same period was 17,006. The town is about 
12 miles from the sea, at the mouth of the Lagan, which 
bounds it on the S. E., and flows immediately into Bel- 
fast Lough, which is twelve miles in length and five in 
breadth at the entrance, gradually narrowing as it ap- 
proaches the town. The river Lagan, which separates 
the counties of Antrim and Down, is crossed by five 
bridges; the Queen's bridge is a splendid structure, and 
Ormeau bridge, of four arches, opened in '63, at a cost of 
£17,000, is a magnificent work. Belfast is built on an al- 
luvial deposit, and lies low, the greater portion being not 
more than six feet above high sea level, yet on account 
of its geographical position it is healthy. Its places of 
worship are Church of Ireland 21; Roman Catholic 6; 
Presbyterian 31; Unitarian 3; Reformed Presbyterian 2; 
United Presbyterian 1; Evangelical Union 2; Baptist 2; 
Independent 3; Methodist 15; Quaker 1. Its educational 
establishments are the Queen's College, a fine building 
in the Elizabethan style, the General Assembly's Col- 
lege, the Methodist College, the Royal Academical Insti- 
tution, the Belfast Academy, the Ladies' Industrial School 
for Girls, being the first Ragged school established in 
Ireland, 130 national schools in the town and its vicinity, 
and 77 private seminaries. The public libraries are in 
the Queen's College, the Royal Academical Institution 
and the Linen Hall. There are sixteen newspapers, one 
of which, the News-Letter* dates from 1737. The other 
public institutions are the Charitable Society's Poor-house, 
the Lying-in Hospital, the Belfast Royal Hospital, the 
Belfast Opthalmic Hospital, Hospital for Skin Diseases, 
the Ulster Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, the Samaritan 
Hospital and three Children's Hospitals, the Nurses Home 
and Training School, the District Lunatic Asylum, the 
Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum, the Union Work- 
House, the County Court House and Prison, the Malone 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 291 

Protestant Reformatory, the Magdalen Asylum, the Ul- 
ster Female Penitentiary, the White Linen Hall, the Com- 
mercial buildings and exchange, the Harbor office, the 
Belfast, Ulster and Northern Joint Stock Banks, the 
branch offices of the Bank of Ireland, Provincial, Na- 
tional, and Savings Banks, and a large number devoted to 
charity, education and art. An extensive range of offices 
for the Customs, Inland, Revenue and Post Office, and a 
fine block of buildings for Town Hall and other corporate 
purposes; and in the suburbs there is the Ormeau Park, 
the Falls Park, the Royal Botanic Garden, and the new 
borough Cemetery. In 1870 a clock tower was erected in 
memory of the late Prince Consort; it is called the Al- 
bert Memorial Clock Tower; the height from the ground 
to the four clock dials is 90 feet, and the entire height of 
the structure 143 feet. 

The borough of Belfast returns two members to Parlia- 
ment; constituency 18,963, and the town, which is iden- 
tical with the parliamentary borough, is governed by a 
corporation of ten aldermen and thirty counselors, from 
which a mayor is annually chosen. The number of bur- 
gesses in '76, was 5,220, and the total revenue of the bor- 
ough in '75 was £143,870, and the expenditure £146,876. 
Debt, £687,628. Belfast is the great centre of the Irish 
linen manufacture, having within itself the great majority 
of the spinning mills and power-loom weaving factories 
in Ireland. The other chief branches of industry are 
cotton spinning and power-loom weaving, iron founding 
on an extensive scale, and linen and yarn bleaching. 
There are also print works, flour mills, chemical works, 
oil mills, alabaster and barilla saw mills, distilleries, brew- 
eries, tan yards, patent felt manufactories, etc.; two large 
ship-yards, with two patent slips and three graving docks, 
one of which is among the largest in the kingdom, and 
yards for manufacturing ropes and sail cloth. 

There is an iron ship-building yard on Queen's Island, 
employing upwards of 2,000 hands, from which has been 
launched some of the finest steamers and sailing ships 
afloat, including the celebrated White Star line of mail 
steamers. This yard has been placed on the admiralty 



292 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. • 

list as suitable for building for the royal navy. The Har- 
bor commissiouers, elected by the ratepayers, have in- 
trusted to them all the very important matters connected 
with the shipping interests of the port, and the improve- 
ments of the harbor. The quays extend in a continuous 
line from the Queen's bridge on both sides of the river 
for about a mile. Before the recent improvements of 
the harbor were commenced, there were only two tidal 
docks, the Prince's and the Clarendon; to these have been 
added the Abercorn basin, and the Hamilton graving dock, 
the Spencer dock and the Dufferin dock, together with a 
tidal basin at the entrance of the Spencer dock. These 
new docks add about 25 acres of water area, and upwards 
of a mile of quayage to the shipping accommodation of 
the port. There has been expended on these recent im- 
provements, the sum of £304,823, making the total assets 
of the commissioners amount to £873,317. The surplus 
assets of the trust amount to £228,272. The Harbor 
Commissioners' receipts from dues were £75,606, and on 
loan £64,637. Ordinary expenditure £70,637; on re- 
newal of Albert and Queen's quays, £14,562, and on new 
works £7,423. A pair of masting shears capable of lift- 
ing a weight of 50 tons has been erected at the Abercorn 
basin. Horse railways connect the docks with the railway 
termini, and have also been introduced in all the leading- 
thoroughfares. Markets on Friday; cattle and sheep 
market on Tuesday, besides daily markets for domestic 
purposes, and monthly fairs on the first Wednesday of 
the month. Flax market on Friday. 

The inland trade is carried on by the Lagan Naviga- 
tion, which connects the town with Lough Neagh; the 
Ulster canal, which coiinects Lough Neagh with Ennis- 
killen; and by the Great Northern Counties and County 
Down Railways. By the great Northern Railway there 
is direct communication six times daily with Dublin, and 
twice a day with Gal way. A railroad from the cave hill, 
3 miles from Belfast, conveys limestone to the quays. 
The termini of the Great Northern Counties and County 
Down Railways are handsome structures. The commerce 
of Belfast is extensive; the imports were £12,417,000, 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 293 

and the exports about £11,915,000. The custom duties 
amounted to £382,549, and in '73 to £409,050. The 
number and tonnage of vessels which entered the port 
from '75 was 7,475 vessels, 1,434,754 tons, and the ton- 
nage registered at the port was 406 vessels, 65,524 tons. 

CARLOW BOROUGH. 

Carlow, an inland town and Parliamentary borough 
in Carlow barony and county, and Leinster province, on 
the river Barrow, 40 miles S. W. by S. from Dublin, com- 
prising within its electoral boundary an area of 572 acres, 
which includes the suburb of Graigue, in the Queen's 
county on the west side of the river; population of Oar- 
low, 7,842, inhabiting 1,461 houses. The public build- 
ings are three Potestant churches, two Roman Oatholic 
churches, the Roman Catholic college and school, two 
nunneries, the Christian Brothers' School, a Presbyterian, 
a Methodist, and a Friends' Meeting House, the County 
Court House, Prison Infirmary and Union Work House, 
the District Lunatic Asylum, a Fever Hospital and Bar- 
racks. A bridge of five arches over the river Barrow con- 
nects the suburb of Graigue with the town. The borough 
is under the Towns Improvement Act, and returns 1 
member to Parliament; constituency 298; rateable value of 
property, £10,946; borough receipts, £561; expenditure, 
£429. A branch of the Great Southern & Western 
Railway connects Carlow with the metropolis, and with 
Kilkenny and Waterford. The Barrow, which is navi- 
gable above the town to its junction with the grand canal 
at Athy, affords great facilities of export, chiefly of grain 
and butter, to Dublin and Waterford. There are in the 
town and its vicinity, several flour mills and malt houses; 
also an extensive brewery; butter of superior quality is 
largely exported; two newspapers, the Carlow Post and 
the Carlow Sentinel, are published in the town. 



294 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

CARRICKFERGUS COUNTY, OF THE TOWN AND 

BOROUGH. 

Carrickfergus, a maritime county of a town and a 
Parliamentary borough in Ulster province, situate on the 
N. shore of Carrickfergus Bay, or Belfast Lough, and 
enclosed on all other sides by Antrim county; is Ill-S- 
miles N. from Dublin. It comprises an area of 16,700 
acres, of which 12,483 are arable, 4,086 uncultivated, 
and 129 in the town. The surface is hilly. Lough 
Mourne, a lake of about 90 acres, is 556 feet above high 
sea level. The population of the county of the town, 
9,397, inhabiting 1875 houses. Carrickfergus was for- 
merly a place of great strength; a great part of the 
walls remain, and the Castle built on a rock projecting 
into the sea, is still kept up as an arsenal, and is mounted 
with heavy guns. Its public buildings are the Town 
Hall, Market Place, Parish Church, Presbyterian Dissent- 
ing and Methodist Meeting-Houses, Roman Catholic 
Church, Court House, and Jail. The borough returns 1 
member to Parliament; constituency 1351; rateable value 
of property £23,947; borough revenue £1,114; ex- 
penditure £1,041; harbor revenue £595; debt £5,616. 
The town has some trade and manufactures, and ex- 
tensive fisheries. The oysters taken off the coast are 
prized for their size and flavor. About one and a half 
miles north-west of the town, at Duncrue, rock-salt has 
been discovered in the triassic sand-stone deposit, and 
considerable quantities of excellent salt are annually 
manufactured. Vessels of 100 tons and upwards can 
now discharge at the landing-quay, and there is a patent 
slip where vessels can be repaired. Markets on Satur- 
day; a butter and pork market on Monday, and one 
monthly for the sale of cattle. A branch of the Belfast 
and Northern Counties Railway terminates here, and 
there is a line to Larne, from whence steamers ply to 
Stranraer, in Scotland, every week-day at 4.50 p. m. 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. ,295 



CASHEL CITY. 



Cashel, an inland city and formerly a Parliamentary 
borough in the county of Tipperary, 100 miles S. W. 
from Dublin, comprises a municipal area of 4,018 acres. 
The population 4,562, inhabiting 788 houses. The city 
is built on the S. and E. sides of an isolated rock, called 
the rock of Cashel, which rises steeply to the height of 
about 300 feet, in the middle of an extensive plain two 
miles east of the river Suir. It was the seat of the Arch- 
episcopal, now the Episcopal See of Cashel, and pre- 
serves several relics of its ancient splendor. On the 
summit of the rock was the palace of the ancient 
Kings of Munster, the ancient Cathedral, Cormac's 
Chapel, the Episcopal Palace, and a Round Tower, the ex- 
tensive remains of which, from their elevated position 
above the surrounding country, have a grand effect. The 
modern public buildings are the new Cathedral, the Epis- 
copal Palace, now converted into a Deanery House, the 
Roman Catholic Church, the Court House, Market House, 
Fever Hospital, National School, Town Commissioner's 
Hall, Barracks, and County Tipperary Infirmary. The in- 
come of the borough is derived from landed estates ad- 
joining the town, granted by Bishop Maurianus for the 
benefit of the inhabitants. Revenue £3,108 ; expendi- 
ture £2,903 ; debt £1.156 ; rateable value of property 
£5,687. The Great Southern and Western Railway pass- 
es within five miles of the city. Market days Wednes- 
day and Saturday. A weekly newspaper, the Cashel 
Gazette is published here. 

CLONMEL BOROUGH. 

Clonmel, an inland town and Parliamentary borough, 
chiefly in the S. Riding of Tipperary, but partly in 
Waterford county, Munster province, 104 miles S. W. 
from Dublin, comprising 331 acres; population 10,112, 
inhabiting 1,378 houses. It is built on both sides of the 
Suir and on Moore and Long Islands, which are con- 
nected with the main land by 3 bridges. The public 



296 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

buildings are the Parish Church, 2 Roman Catholic 
Parish Churches, and a Franciscan Friary, Presbyterian, 
Unitarian, Baptist, Friends, and Methodist Meeting- 
Houses, 2 Christian Brothers' Communities, 2 Convents, 
a Female school under the Sisters of Charity, an Endowed 
School, and a Model school under the National Board of 
Mechanics' Institute, Court House and Prison for the S. 
Riding, a Fever Hospital and Dispensary, the District 
and Auxiliary Lunatic Asylum, a Market House and Bar- 
racks. The woolen manufacture was established here as 
far back as 1667, but has ceased to exist. 

The business of tanning is extensively carried on. 
There is a large brewery in the town, numerous flour 
mills and warehouses. The borough returns 1 member 
to Parliament; constituency 445. Rateable value of 
property £15,521. The corporation have estates com- 
prising 4,809 Irish acres. Borough receipts £1,579; ex- 
penditure £1,415. The number of burgesses on the roll 
278; market days Wednesday and Saturday. Fairs are 
held on the 5th of May and the 5th of November, and on 
the first Wednesday in other months. Two newspapers 
are published in the town, the Clonmel Chronicle, and 
Tipperary Free Press, and a branch office has been 
opened for Bassett's Daily Chronicle, Limerick. 

COLERAINE BOROUGH. 

Coleraine, a maritime town and Parliamentary bor- 
ough in the N. E. Liberties of Coleraine, in Londonder- 
ry county, Ulster province, 145 miles N. from Dublin; 
comprising a municipal area of 205 statute acres; the 
area of the Parliamentary borough is 963 acres; popula- 
tion, 6,522, inhabiting 1,354 houses. The town is built 
on both sides of the river Bann, 4 miles from the sei, 
over which is a splendid stone bridge of 3 arches, 96 
yards in length, by 32 feet in breadth, and cost £14,500. 
It consists of Central Square called the Diamond, and 
several diverging streets. The portion on the W. side 
of the Bann, is called Waterside, and Killowen. The 
public buildings are 2 Parish Churches, 2 Roman Catho- 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 297 

lie churches, 3 Presbyterian, Independent, Methodist, and 
Baptist meeting-houses; the Town Hall, Court-House, 
an endowed School, a National Model School, and Free 
Schools, erected by the Irish Society of London, at a 
cost of upwards of £5,000. Coleraine is fast improving- 
in spinning and weaving factories, and also in pork-cur- 
ing establishments. The salmon fisheries on the rivers 
Bann and Foyle, are farmed at £4,650 annually, by the 
Irish Society of London, successors of King James' Plan- 
ters. In 1873 the number of vessels entered inwards 
was 422; tonnage 46,589; cleared outwards 221 vessels of 
31,163 tons. Revenue £2,463; expenditure £2,341; debt 
£15,760; harbor revenue £850; expenditure £910; rate- 
able value of property £13,109. The borough returns 
one member to Parliament; constituency 441; two news- 
papers: the Coleraine Chronicle, and the Coleraine Con- 
stitution are published in the town every Saturday. 

CORK COUNTY OF A CITY, AND PARLIAMENT- 
ARY BOROUGH. 

Cork, a county of a city, and Parliamentary borough, 
in Minister province, the third in Ireland in population, 
wealth and commerce; 159 miles S. W. from Dublin, 
comprising, with its ancient boundaries, an area of 48,- 
006 acres, and within its modern municipal boundaries 
2,683 acres; population of the municipal borough 78,- 
642, or within the Parliamentary boundary 100,518, in- 
habiting 14,651 houses. The city is situated on the river 
Lee, which here diverges into several branches, and forms 
an island; is 11 miles inland from the entrance of the 
river to Cork harbor. The public buildings are 1 Cathe- 
dral, 6 Parish Churches and Chapels of Ease of the estab- 
lishment, 4 Roman Catholic Parochial Churches, 5 Mo- 
nasteries, 4 Nunneries, with a chapel attached to each; 2 
Presbyterian, 4 Methodist, 1 Baptist, 1 Independent, 1 
Frends' Meeting House, the Palace of the Bishop, Dio- 
cesan Library, County Court House, Military Barrack, 
Queen's College, County and City Prisons, Bank of Ire- 
land, Provincial, National, Munster, Hibernian and Sav- 



298 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

ings Banks, North and South Infirmaries, Ophth malic 
Hospital, Hospital for incurable cancer patients, Lunatic 
Asylum, Custom House, Commercial Building, Chamber 
of Commerce, Royal Cork Institution, and 5 Industrial 
Schools. The headquarters and staff of the Cork or South- 
ern Military District of Ireland are stationed here. Near 
the city is a cemetery, after the plan of Pere La Chaise, on 
the site of the old Botanic Garden; St. Finn Barr's Ceme- 
tery, established by the corporation under the Burial (Ire- 
land) Act 1856, on which they have expended £10,000. 
A portion of the Cemetery is set apart for Protestants and 
Protestant dissenters, and a portion for Roman Catholics. 
The Marina is a picturesque public walk 1^ miles in 
length along the S. bank of the river; and the Mardyke, 
a public walk a mile in length on the W. of the city. 
A park of about 240 acres extends from Victoria road 
along the south bank of the river to Black Rock, which 
has been converted into a race-course. There are 9 
bridges over the river and its branches; in Patrick street 
a handsome bronze statue to the memory of Father 
Mathew, the Apostle of Temperance, has been erected. 

The corporation consists of the Mayor, 14 Aldermen, 
and 42 Town Counselors; the number of burgesses, 
2,005. The borough returns 2 members to Parliament; 
constituency 4,371. The net annual value of property 
under th^ tenement valuation act is £210,987; borough 
receipts £72,378; debt £193,891; expenditures for cleans- 
ing, paving, lighting, etc., £70,652. The principal man- 
ufactures are tanning, distilling, brewing, iron foundries, 
gloves, ginghams and freizes. The trade is also exten- 
sive in grain, provisions and butter — of the latter about 
340,000 firkins are shipped annually. The corn market 
covers a space of 8 or 10 acres, and the butter market is 
interesting on account of the perfect system of checks 
by which the sales are conducted. The extent of the 
quays is over 4 miles, of which more than 2^- miles is 
used by shipping; on the improvements connected with 
the river £300,000 has been expended by the Harbor 
Commissioners; harbor revenue in 1875, £64,918; expen- 
ditures £55,349. The corporation have erected 2 bridges 



GAZETTEER OF IEELAKD. 299 

at a cost of £25,000 — one finished in 1861, the other in 
1864. Iron ship building is carried on with great spirit 
by the Cork Steamship Company, Robinson and Co., and 
a company established 1872, "The Cork Harbor Docks 
and Warehouses Company, limited," with a capital of 
£120,000, have purchased the Royal Victoria Docks at 
Passage West, and also the Queenstown Docks. A large 
quantity of grain is imported into Cork harbor, and the 
company has already erected large granaries for the 
storage of corn. In those establishments the largest 
merchant ships can be built or repaired. Three news- 
papers, the Constitution, Examiner and Herald, are 
published daily in the city and the Cork weekly Herald 
on Saturday. Within the harbor are Great Island, Lit- 
tle Island, Foaty and Spike Island, on which is a bomb- 
proof artillery barrack and a convict depot; Haulbowline 
Island, containing an Ordinance Depot, and Rocky 
Island, in which are two powder magazines excavated 
from the rock. A naval dockyard is now constructing 
at Haulbowline; the design embraces a basin of 12 acres, 
with 30 feet over the sill at the entrance, at high water 
neaps with 2000 feet ofwharf accommodation, and with 
space for 2 docks leading out of the basin. The cost is 
estimated at $150,000. 

DOWNPATRICK BOROUGH. 

Downtatrick, a maritime town and Parliamentary 
borough in Down county, Lecale barony, and Ulster 
province ; 74 miles N. N. E. from Dublin, comprising an 
area of 1,487 acres, of which 278 are in the town, and 1,- 
209 in the rural district. Population 4,155, inhabiting 
903 houses. The town is situate, in a steep valley near the 
S. W. angle of Strangford Lough, is divided into the 
English, Irish and Scotch quarters, and consists of four 
main streets meeting near its centre. The public build- 
ings are the Cathedral of Down diocese, the Parish Church, 
a neat Parochial school in Church street, a Roman Cath- 
olic Church, 2 Presbyterian, and 2 Methodist Meeting 
Houses, the Diocesan School, the County Court House, 



300 GAZETTEER OF IKELAND. 

Prison, Infirmary and Fever Hospital, the Northern and 
Ulster Banks, Alms-houses, Widows'-houses, and the 
new Lunatic Asylum near the town. The town is light- 
ed with g-as. The borough returns 1 member to Parlia- 
ment ; constituency 281; rateable value of property 
£10,093; borough rates levied in 1871, £207, lis. lid. 
A small export trade is carried on by means of vessels of 
100 tons from Lough Strangford, which can discharge at 
the Quoil Quay, one mile from the town, but vessels of 
larger tonnage can discharge at the steamboat quay low- 
er down the river. The County Down Railway connects 
the town with Belfast, the fair towns of Crossgar, Saint- 
field, Ballynahinch, Comber, and Newtownards, and is 
continued from Downpatrick to the fashionable bathing 
place of Newcastle. The line to the port of Donaghadee 
was completed in 1862. Market days Tuesday and 
Saturday. One newspaper is published in the town, the 
Downpatrick Recorder, on Saturday's. 

DROGHEDA COUNTY OF THE TOWN AND 
BOROUGH. 

Drogheda, a maritime county of a town and Parlia- 
mentary borough, in Leinster province; situate between 
Meath and Louth counties, and 31^- miles N. from Dub- 
lin by railway, comprising an area of 9 square miles, or 
5,780 acres. Population of the municipal borough 13,510, 
inhabiting 3,222 houses. The town is situate on the 
Boyne, 4 miles from the sea. The public buildings are 
three Protestant Churches, two Roman Catholic Churches, 
three Friaries, four Nunneries, a Presbyterian and a 
Methodist Meeting House, an Endowed Scho >l,the Man- 
sion Tholsel, Town Prison, Linen Hall, Custom House, 
Inland Revenue office, Corn Market, Savings Bank, and 
Infantry Barracks, capable of accomodating 400 men. 
The linen manufacture, after flourishing here for some 
time, gave way to that of cotton, which in turn was super- 
seded by flax spinning, but both the latter are now car- 
ried on to a great extent. A large cotton factory has 
been erected by Benjamin Whitworth, wlio, at his sole 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 301 

expense, has built a spacious and handsome town hall. 

The same gentleman has contributed half the cost of 
new waterworks, by which means 800,000 gallons of the 
purest water will be conveyed to the town daily. Three 
flax mills give employment to upwards of 1,000 persons ; 
that called St. Mary's, which is the largest, cost £50,000 
for its erection. There are six corn mills, five si It works, 
two breweries, eight tanneries, and four soap works. The 
iron works of Grendon & Co. give employment to up- 
wards of 300 persons in the manufacture of steam engines, 
boilers, iron bridges, etc. Cairnes , brewery is celebrated 
for the excellence of its ale, which is largely exported to 
the colonies. The corporation consists of six aldermen 
and eighteen town counselors, elected from three wards. 
The town returns one member to Parliament ; constitu- 
ency 697. Rateable value of property, £27,988; borough 
receipts, £%670 ; expenditure for paving, lighting, etc., 
£3,245. The cattle market is held on Thursday and corn 
market on Saturday. 

Drogheda carries on a considerable trade, chiefly with 
Liverpool. The exports are principally corn meal, flour, 
cattle, provisions, linen, etc. The harbor, formed by the 
waters of the Boyne 4 miles from the sea, extends about 
a half a mile below the bridge with 16 to 18 feet of 
water abreast the quays, at which vessels of 400 tons can 
moor; the tide flows up as far as old bridge 2^ miles 
above the town, from whence the Boyne navigation for 
barges of 50 tons extends inland to Navan, 19 miles. 
The port and harbor are under commissioners. Harbor 
receipts are £3,606. The number of vessels entered in- 
wards in '73 was 707 tonnage, 115,673 cleared outwards, 
45 of 5,231 tons. At the entrance of the harbor are 3 
light-houses, 2 of which are movable according to the 
changes in the bar. The Dublin and Drogheda Railway 
was opened for traffic in 1844, and Drogheda has direct 
communication to Enniskillen, Londonderry, Belfast, 
Navan, Kells, and Oldcastle. A magnificent viaduct 95 
feet in height, across the river Boyne, connects the 
Drogheda Belfast Junction Railways. Two newspapers 
are published in the town, the Drogheda Argus and 
Drogheda Conservative. 



302 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

DUNDALK BOROUGH. 

Dundalk, a maritime town and Parliamentary bor- 
ough in upper Dundalk barony, Louth county and 
Leinster province, 50 miles N. from Dublin, comprising 
an area of 1,411 acres; population, 11,377. The town- 
ship of Dundalk has an area of 1,386 acres and a popula- 
tion of 11,327. It is situated at the mouth of the small 
river of Castletown, on the coast of Dundalk Bay. The 
public buildings are the Parish Church, 3 Roman Catholic 
churches, a Friary Convent and Schools, Presbyterian 
and Methodist MeetingHouses, the County Court House, 
and Prison Union Work-house, Infirmary, Market House, 
Butter Crane buildings, Incorporated Society's School, 
Endowed Grammar School, Erasmus Smith Schools, St. 
Mary's College, Christian Brothers' School, and Cavalry 
barracks. The Exchange Building contains the town 
hall, free public library and reading room with spacious 
public offices. The sum of £8,000 has been expended 
on the erection of these buildings, which are now the 
property of the town commissioners. There are in the 
town a distillery, brewery, flax and jute spinning-mill, 
flour-mills, salt works, ship building and tan yards. 

The borough returns one member to Parliament; con- 
stituency 541; rateable value of property £19,615. The 
lighting, cleaning, and watching of the town is vested 
in commissioners under the Towns Improvement Act. 
Borough rates levied £1,261; expenditures £1,019; debt 
£2,200; harbor revenue £8,561; market day Monday. 
The port and harbor on which £22,150 has been expended 
which is in charge of commissioners under act 3 and 4, 
vie. c. 119 since 1837, is in progress of improvement. 
Railway communication is complete to Belfast, and the 
Irish North- Western Railway line is extended from Dun- 
dalk to Enniskillen and Londonderry, and from Dun- 
dalk to Cootehill, and from Dundalk via. Clones, to Ca- 
van, Mullingar, Ballinasloe, and Galway, and thereby con- 
necting the Western and North-Western counties with 
the port. A line of railway from Dundalk to Greenore 
harbor, in Carlingford Lough, was opened in 1873, and a 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 303 

special service of steam packets to and from Holyhead, 
organized by the London and North- Western Railway 
company, and through-booking of passengers and goods 
brought in operation to and from all the chief stations on 
that company's lines in England to those of the Irish 
North-Western, the Dublin and Belfast Junction, and 
Ulster Railway companies. Large quantities of farm 
produce and live stock are exported by the steamers of 
the Dundalk Steam Packet Company, which ply four 
times a week to Liverpool. The number of vessels en- 
tered inwards in 1873 was 829, of 144,850 tons; cleared 
outwards 392, of 103,930 tons. The imports consist of 
timber andiron, jute, Indian corn, flour, groceries, &c. 
There are three newspapers in the town. The Newry 
Examiner, published on Wednesday and Saturday, the* 
Democrat, published on Saturday, and the Dundalk 
Herald, published on Saturday. 

DUNGANNON BOROUGH. 

Du^GA^xotf, an inland town and Parliamentary bor- 
ough in Dungannon barony, Tyrone county, and Ulster 
province ; 94|- miles N. N. W. from Dublin, comprising 
an area, according to its ancient chartered boundary, of 
836 acres, and to its modern parliamentary boundary, of 
230 acres ; population 3,886 ; inhabiting 727 houses. It 
is situate on the acclivity of a hill, at a distance of 8 miles 
from Lough Neagh, and consists of a square and several 
streets. The public buildings are the Parish Church, Ro- 
man Catholic Church, two Presbyterian and two Methodist 
Meeting Houses, Court House, Bridewell, Market House, 
the offices of Belfast Banking Co., Provincial and Savings 
Bank, Union Work House, Temperance Hall, Fever Hos- 
pital, Shield's Alms Houses, Endowed School, Dungan- 
non Institute, and the Earl and Countess of Ranfurly's 
School. The town is lighted with gas. The markets have 
been enlarged and improved by the Earl of Ranfurly, who 
on comina- of age, offered building leases for 999 vcars 
at moderate rents. Linens are manufactured, and also 
coarse earthenware, fire-brick and tile works ; there are 



304: GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

flax spinning mills and a corn mill in the town. Dickson 
& Co., the proprietors of the corn and flour mills, have 
erected an extensive power-loom weaving factory on the 
site of the old distillery, and also a number of mechanics 
and workmen's dwelling houses. The borough returns 
one member to Parliament ; constituency 340. Rateable 
value of property, £7,629; poor and sanitary rates, £636; 
town rates levied, £238 ; expenditure, £200. The gen- 
eral market is on Thursday, and that for grain on Mon- 
day and Thursday. 



DUNGARVAN BOROUGH. 

Dungarvan, a maritime town and Parliamentary 
borough in Decies without Drum barony, Waterford 
county, and Munster province, 125 fniles S. W. from 
Dublin; comprising an area of 8,499 acres, of which 392 
are in the town and 8,107 in the rural district; popula- 
tion, 7,719, inhabiting 1,538 houses. The town is 
situated on the Bay of Dungarvan, at the mouth of the 
river Colligan, which divides it into two portions con- 
nected by a bridge and causeway; the eastern is called 
Abbeyside. The public buildings are the Town Hall, 
the Provincial Bank — a fine structure with granite front 
— the National and Munster Banks, the Parish Church, 2 
Roman Catholic Churches, 2 Convents, 1 Monastery, a 
Fever Hospital, Sessions House, Union Workhouse, 
Market House, and millitary barracks. There is also a 
steammilland 2 breweries. A line of railway is in course of 
construction between Dungarvan, Waterford and Lismore. 
The exports are chiefly grain, butter and cattle. Gas 
works have been established and the town is well lighted. 
There are two weekly markets for the sale of butter, on 
Tuesday and Saturday. The borough returns 1 member 
to Parliament; constituency 340. Rateable valuation 
£14,948; borough rates levied in '75, £214; expenditure 
£358; debt £374; harbor revenue £288. 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 305 

ENNIS BOROUGH. 

Ennis, an inland town and Parliamentary borough in 
Islands barony, Clare county, and Munster province, 141 
miles W. S. W. from Dublin, comprising an area of 484 
acres; population 6,503; situated on the Fergus, which is 
crossed by four bridges. The public buildings are the 
Parish Church, the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Killaloe 
diocese, Methodist Meeting House, Presbyterian Chapel, 
Franciscan Friary, the Convent of Mercy, with an Or- 
phanage and Industrial School attached, Ennis College, 
Erasmus Smith's foundation, the Killaloe Roman Cath- 
olic Diocesan College, a National School, County Court 
House, erected at a cost of £12,000, Fever Hospital, In- 
firmary Prison, Union Work House and Market House; 
a Public Library has been erected; also a bridge over 
the river Fergus at Ennis Mills. The Provincial and 
National Banks have erected handsome edifices. There 
is also a monument to O'Connell, with a splendid colossal 
statue by Cahill, on the site of the old Court House. A 
Lunatic Asylum for the county Clare has been erected at 
a cost of £54,000, in the vicinity of the town. There are 
extensive flour mills, but no manufactures of importance 
are carried on. Grain, flour and other commodities are 
conveyed for export in lighters, for shipment to Clare, 
two miles lower down the river Fergus. Markets on 
Saturday. Large fairs are held in a commodious walled- 
in fair-green. Races are held in the neighborhood. The 

O IT) > 

borough returns 1 member to Parliament; constituency 
236; rateable value of property £6,627. The cleaning 
of the town is vested in 18 commissioners, under the 
Towns Improvement Act. Town rates, etc., levied in 
1875, £436; expenditure £409. There are two news- 
papers published in Ennis, the Clare Journal, established 
in 1776, published on Monday and Thursday; and the 
Clare Journal, published every Saturday. 

ENN1SKILLEN BOROUGH. 

Enniskillen, an inland town and Parliamentary bor- 
ough in Magheraboy and Tyrkennedy baronies, Ferman- 
20 



306 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

agh county, and Ulster province ; 102 miles N. W. from 
Dublin ; comprising an area of 129 acres ; population 
5,836, inhabiting 9-13 houses. The town is situate on an 
island in the river connecting the upper and lower lakes 
of Lough Erne, and on the adjoining mainland on both 
sides, which communicate with each other by 2 bridges. 
The public buildings are the Parish Church, Roman 
Catholic Church, Presbyterian and two Methodist Meet- 
ing Houses, County Court House, Prison, Infirmary, Town 
Hall, Royal and National Model Schools, Union Work 
House and two Barracks. There is a tannery and market 
for pork, corn and butter. Flax market on Thursday, 
butter and pork market on Tuesday. There is a Railway 
to Bundoran, a favorite watering place on the Donegal 
coast, distant 32 miles. An act was passed in 1873 to 
extend the line 23 miles, to join the Midland Railway at 
Sligo. The borough revenue was £2,706, expenditure 
£2,876, debt £9,630. The borough returns 1 member to 
Parliament, constituency, 408 ; rateable value of proper- 
ty £10,907. Three newspapers are published in the town 
— the Fermanagh Ifail, Fermanagh Reporter^ and the 
Enniskillen Advertiser. 



Gx\L¥AY COUNTY OF THE TOWN AND BOR- 
OUGH. 

Galway, a maritime county of a town and Parliamen- 
tary borough, in Connaught province; situate on the 
north side of Galway Bay, and bounded on every other 
side by Galway county, 130 miles W. from Dublin; com- 
prising an area of 24,132 acres ; population 19,843. The 
town built on both sides of the river that discharges the 
superfluous waters of Lough Corrib, three miles distant, 
and is crossed by three bridges, consists of the old and 
new towns, and the suburb of Claddagh, inhabited wholly 
by fishermen. The principal buildings are the Protestant 
Church, three Roman Catholic Churches, three Monaster- 
ies, five Nunneries, Presbyterian and Methodist Meeting 
Houses, the county and town Court Houses and Prisons, 
the County Infirmary, a Fever Hospital, an Endowed and a 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 307 

Charter School, the Custom House, the Union Work-house, 
and two Barracks; also the Queen's College and two Read- 
ing Rooms, the Royal Gal way Institute, and the Mechanic's 
Institute, a Model School on the national system, the ter- 
minus of the Midland Great Western Railway, at which 
is opened a large hotel and the County Club House. 
The town is governed by the high sheriff, recorder, 
local magistrate and a board of twenty-four commission- 
ers, elected tri-annually, who have charge of the property 
of the town arising from tolls, etc., which was £2,172 ; 
expenditure £2,312. It returns two members to Parlia- 
ment ; constituency 1,445. Rateable value of property 
£32,469. The Bay of Galway is an immense sheet of 
water, protected from the swell of the Atlantic by the 
natural breakwater of the Arran Isles, and possessing 
great advantages for foreign trade, particularly to Amer- 
ica. The entrance of the bay is marked by two lights, 
one on the South Island entrance of the South Channel, 
and one on Rock Island in North Channel; the South Is- 
land light is fixed, the other revolves. Arranmore Island, 
498 feet above the level of the sea, was the port light- 
house, it is now on a rock at a convenient height above 
the level of the sea. Harbor receipts, £2,160 15s. 9d.; 
the number of vessels entered inwards in '73, was 197, of 
35,013 tons; cleared outwards 146, of 22,726 tons. The 
exports consist chiefly of agricultural produce, wool and 
marble. Beautiful black marble slabs of large size are 
exported to London and America ; mills for sawing and 
polishing are in the town. There are two newspapers 
published here, the Vindicator and Express, 

There is an extensive line of quay wall, and a canal 
runs from the harbor through the town to Lough Corrib 
and Lough Mask. There are a brewery, distillery, paper 
mill, foundry, tanyard, several flour mills, a clog factory, 
and a bag factory in the town and vicinity. Salmon and 
sea fish are abundant. The Midland Great Western 
Railway extends from Dublin to Galway. 



308 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

KILKENNY COUNTY OF THE CITY. 

Kilkenny, an inland county of a city and Parliamen- 
tary borough, in Leinster province, 73 miles S. W. 
from Dublin, the Parliamentary borough, comprising an 
area of 17,012 acres, of which 921 are in the city, and 
16,091 in the rural district; population 15,748, inhabiting 
2,854 houses. The municipal borough contains only 921 
acres, and 14,174 people, inhabiting 2,290 houses. The 
town, built on the river Nore, which is crossed by two 
bridges, consists of two parts, the Irish and English 
towns, the latter of which still retains its name, while 
the former has merged into that of Kilkenny. The prin- 
cipal buildings are the Cathedral, 2 Parish Churches, 
Roman Catholic Cathedral, and 6 Roman Catholic 
Churches, 2 Monasteries, 2 Convents, Presbyterian and 
Methodist Meeting Houses, an endowed school called St. 
John's College, a Roman Catholic College, a National 
Model School, and 5 ordinary National Schools, County 
Court House, County and City Prison and Infirmary, a 
Fever Hospital, the Tholsol Union, Workhouse, Bar- 
racks, Banks, etc., and Kilkenny Castle, the residence of 
the Marquis of Ormonde, on an eminence overlooking 
the valley of the Nore. The manufacture of blankets, 
coarse woolens and linens, has declined. Coal and black 
marble are raised in the neighborhood; the latter is much 
used for chimney pieces and ornamental purposes. There 
are breweries, tanneries and flour mills in the city and its 
vicinity. There were formerly 2 municipal corporations, 
that of the English town or city of Kilkenny, possessing 
an annual revenue of upwards of £2,000, and that of 
Irishtown or St. Canice, annual revenue £15 ; but by the 
provisions of the Municipal Reform Act, they are amal- 
gamated, and return 1 member to Parliament ; constit- 
uency 696; rateable value of property £33,196; borough 
receipts £4,773; debt £5,923; expenditures for paving, 
lighting and cleansing £4,734; the number of burgesses 
on the roll for 1873 was 266; markets on Wednesday 
and Saturdays. Three newspapers are published in the 
town, the Moderator, Journal and Kilkenny Times. 



GAZETTEEE OF IRELAND. 309 

KINSALE BOROUGH. 

Kinsale, a maritime town and Parliamentary borough, 
in Kinsale barony, Cork county, and Munster province; 
177 miles S. W. from Dublin, comprising an area of 313 
acres; population 7,050; inhabiting 716 houses. The 
town is built partly on the side of Compass Hill, at the 
mouth of the river Bandon, which is crossed by a ferry, 
and also bv a bridge about two miles from town. Some 
of the streets are so steep as not to admit carriages. The 
pubiic buildings are the Parish Church, a Roman Catholic 
Chapel, a Convent, Carmelite Friary, two Methodist 
Meeting Houses, Town Hall, Prison Work-House Assem- 
bly rooms and Barracks. It is supported chiefly by the re- 
sort of summer visitors and the fisheries. The fishermen 
are esteemed the most skillful of any in Ireland, both in 
their own calling, and as pilots. Kinsale is the principal 
station of an extensive fishing company. Kinsale returns 
1 member to Parliament; constituency 199; rateable val- 
uation £5,454; the corporation revenue in '75 was £458; 
expenditure £583. The paving and cleansing of streets 
are vested in 15 commissioners under the Towns Improve- 
ment Act. Kinsale harbor is excellent, having 6 or 8 
fathoms water and capable of accommodating 300 sail of 
vessels at a cable's length from the shore, and 14 feet at 
low ebb; at the mouth of the harbor its entrances are 
protected by Charles Fort, now a barrack; during the 
war it was frequently visited by men-of-war and had a 
government dock, but since the peace its naval impor- 
tance has declined. Its commerce is checked not only 
by its proximity to the port of Cork, but by its isolated 
situation. There is a railway from Cork to Kinsale. 
Fairs are held on the 3d Wednesday of every month. 

LIMERICK COUNTY OF THE CITY AND PAR- 
LIAMENTARY BOROUGH. 

Limerick, a maritime county of the city and Parlia- 
mentary borough in Munster province, situated at the 
interior extremity of the estuary of the Shannon, be- 



310 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

tween Limerick and Clare counties, 119^ miles W. S. W. 
from Dublin; the county of the city comprising 1 an area 
of 2,074 acres, and the Parliamentary borough 33,380 
acres; population of the county of the city 39,353; in- 
habiting 5,518 houses; population of the Parliamentary 
borough 49,980 persons; inhabiting 7,157 houses. The 
town is built on King's Island and on both sides of the 
Shannon, which is crossed by 5 bridges, one of which, 
the Wellesley bridge — a magnificent structure crossing 
the harbor — cost £85,000; the Shannon flowing through 
it in a broad and ample stream, offers advantages which 
few towns possess. It consists of the English and Irish 
towns and Newtown -Pery. The principal buildings are 
the Cathedral; 5 Protestant Churches; 4 Parochial, and 
4 Conventual Roman Catholic Chapels; 5 Dissenting 
places of worship; the County and City Court House and 
Prisons; the Custom House; Barrington's Hospital; 
Fever and Lock Hospital; District Lunatic Asylum; 
Mount St. Vincent's Orphanage ; Work-House; Saving's 
Bank; Chamber of Commerce; Model School; Town 
Hall; Flax Factory; Lace Factory; Corn and Butter 
Markets, and Barracks. In the Limerick lace manufac- 
tory of Forrest, of Dublin, lace is made of the finest and 
most costly description. There are distilleries, breweries, 
tanneries, foundries and flour mills. A patent slip for 
vessels of 500 tons, 3 ship building slips, and a floating 
dock where vessels of 1,000 tons can discharge. The 
new graving dock, adjoining the floating dock, where 
vessels of 1,500 tons can be repaired, is now -finished at 
a cost of £20,000. The number of vessels entered in- 
wards in 1873 was 544, of 125,578 tons; cleared outwards 
293, of 72,437 tons. The corporation consists of 8 
aldermen and 32 counselors, elected by 8 wards. The 
revenue of the city in 1875, from borough rates, etc., was 
£19,346. The expenditure for paving, cleansing, light- 
ing, etc., was £19,872. Debt £56,819. The borough 
returns 2 members to Parliament; constituency 1,947;- 
rateable . property, value £100,364. The harbor at the 
head of the estuary of the Shannon, the noblest river in 
the kingdom, extends about 1,600 yards in length and 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 311 

150 in breadth, with from 2 to 9 feet at low water and 
19 at spring tides, which latter enables vessels of 600 
tons to moor at the quays. Nearly in the middle of the 
harbor the Wellesley bridge crosses and has a portcullis 
for admitting vessels. The quayage and wharfage, on 
which there are five cranes, extend 1,600 yards, and cost 
£18,000 in the erection. A large graving dock has been 
built. The port is under control of commissioners. 
Harbor receipts £8,586. There are seven newspapers 
published in the city, Limerick Chronicle, Limerick 
Reporter, and Vindicator, Munster News, JBassetfs 
Daily Chronicle, and Guy's General Advertiser. . The 
great Munster fair is held on the last Thursday and 
Friday in June, and the last Thursday and Friday in 
October. Markets on Wednesday. 

LISBURN BOROUGH. 

LiSBURisr, an inland and Parliamentary borough, in 
Upper Massereene barony, Antrim county, and Ulster 
province ; 72 miles north from Dublin, comprising an 
area according to its manorial boundary of 231 acres, of 
which 27 are in Down county, and of 1,364 acres, accord- 
ing to its municipal boundary ; population of the Parlia- 
mentary borough 9,326, inhabiting 1,583 houses. The town 
is situate on the Lagan — the Lagan navigation and the 
Ulster railroad from Belfast to Armagh, of which it is a 
station on the Lagan. Its public buildings are the Par- 
ish Church, used as the Cathedral of the diocese of Down 
and Connor, a Chapel of Ease, a Roman Catholic Chapel, 
2 Presbyterian, 3 Methodist, and 1 Quaker Meeting 
Houses, the Infirmary for Antrim County, a Court 
House, Market House, Linen Hall, and Union Work 
House. The Castle Gardens are open as a place of re- 
creation. The finer kinds of linen, particularly damasks, 
linen thread, muslins, and diapers, are manufactured 
here. The borough returns 1 member to Parliament; 
constituency, 611. Rateable value of property £16,998; 
the municipal rates levied in 1875 amounted to £690. 
Markets on Tuesday. 



312 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

LONDONDERRY COUNTY OF THE CITY AND 
PARLIAMENTARY BOROUGH. 

Londonderry, a maritime city and Parliamentary 
borough, in county of city and county of Londonderry 
and Ulster province, 144 miles N. N. W. from Dublin, 
comprising an area of 1,933 acres within its municipal 
and Parliamentary boundary; population of the city, 25,- 
242. The city is situate on a hill 119 feet above high 
water, projecting into the western side of river Foyle, 
four miles from its opening into Lough Foyle, and is sur- 
rounded by an ancient rampart a mile in circumference 
with seven gates, beyond which the buildings have been 
considerably extended; a square in the center from which 
four of the principal streets diverge, is called the Dia- 
mond. The river is crossed by an iron bridge 1,200 feet 
long, connecting the city with the village of Waterside. 
The public buildings are 1 Cathedral, 4 Churches, the 
Roman Catholic Cathedral, 2 Roman Catholic Churches, 
6 Presbyterian, an Independent, Covenanters, 2 Meth- 
odist Meeting Houses, the Episcopal Palace, Foyle Col- 
lege, Magee College, Academical Institution, County and 
City Court House, Prison Infirmary, Gwyn's Institution, 
Corporation Hall, Custom House, District Lunatic Asy- 
lum, Union Work-House and Barrack. In one of the 
city bastions there is a pillar erected in memory of the 
Rev. George Walker, Governor of the city during the 
siege in 1689. There are several flour mills, 2 distilleries, 
3 breweries, 2 foundries and 5 tan yards, with several 
extensive shirt factories. The city returns 1 member to 
Parliament; constituency 1833, rateable value of property 
£66,884. The Municipal Government is vested in the 
Corporation, which consists of 6 Aldermen and 18 Coun- 
selors and 19 Borough Magistrates, appointed by the 
Lord Lieutenant. Revenue from borough rates, etc., 
£15,453; expenditure £16,156. The river Foyle possesses 
great natural advantages, and is navigable for large ves- 
sels up to the city. Harbor receipts £19,003; expendi- 
ture £17,430; debt £138,951. The Londonderry & Ennis- 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 313 

killen Railway, the Coleraine & Deny Raihvay, and the 
Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway, which is open to 
Buncrana, run along the harbor at high-watermark. The 
salmon-fishery of Lough Foyle is very productive^ the 
greater part being shipped to Liverpool. Markets every 
week-day; flax market on Tuesday; also cattle, horse, 
and two grain markets. Four newspapers are published 
in the city; the Journal, Sentinel, Standard, and weekly 
Journal, 

MALLOW BOROUGH. 

Mallow, an inland town and Parliamentary borough, 
in Fermoy barony, the E. riding of Cork county, and 
Munster province ; 150|- miles S. W. from Dublin ; com- 
prising an area of 313 acres ; population 4,165 ; inhabit- 
ing 776 houses. It is situate on the N. side of the Black- 
water, and is joined by a bridge of three arches to the 
suburb of Ballydaheen on the S. side, which forms a por- 
tion of the borough. The public buildings are the Parish 
Church, a Roman Catholic Chapel, an Independent and 
two Methodist Meeting Houses, National School-House, 
an Infirmary, Court House, Bridewell Union Work-House, 
Spa House, Barrack, etc. There are salt works and tan- 
neries in the town, and several extensive flour mills in the 
neighborhood. The borough returns one member to Par- 
liament ; constituency 6,246. Rateable value of property 
£6,478. The great monthly cattle markets are held on 
the first Tuesday of every month, and corn markets on 
Tuesday and Friday. The Killarney and Fermoy rail- 
ways join the Great Southern and Western at this sta- 
tion. 

NEW ROSS BOROUGH. 

New Ross, an inland town and Parli amenta^ borough ; 
partly in Ban try barony, Wexford county, and partly in 
Ida barony, Kilkenny county, and Leinster province, 83 
miles S. S. W. from Dublin; comprising an area of 544 
acres; being the Parliamentary boundary which in- 



314 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

eludes Rosbercon; population 6,772, inhabiting 1,113 
houses. The town is situate on the side of the hill over 
the Barrow, 2 miles below its junction with the Nore. 
The wooden bridge carried away by ice has been re- 
placed by a metal one, at a cost of £50,137, to be raised 
off the counties of Wexford and Kilkenny; in the 
centre is a swivel pillar on which a portion of the bridge 
is turned to admit vessels on each side. The public 
buildings are 2 Protestant Churches, 2 Roman Catholic 
Chapels, a Friary, Nunneries, Presbyterian and Metho- 
dist Meeting Houses, Fever Hospital, Dispensary and 
Lying-in -Hospital, Union Workhouse, Sessions House, 
Bridewell, Market House and Barrack. There are 
breweries and tan yards. The town is lighted with gas, 
and there are 2 news rooms. The trade of the port is, for 
want of railway accommodation, not improving; the 
landing place, on the east bank of the river, 10 miles 
above its junction with the Suir, where new quays have 
been erected at a cost of about £3,000, is from 200 to 
300 yards wide, with depths of from 15 to 26 feet at low 
water. A brisk trade is carried on by the Barrow, which 
admits vessels of 600 tons register to discharge at the 
quay at all times of the tide and those of 800 at high 
springs. Vessels of small tonnage can proceed beyond 
the town by the Nore to Inistiogue, and by the Barrow 
to St. Mullins, and barges still farther to Athy, where 
the junction of the river with the Grand Canal affords a 
water communication with Dublin on the one side and 
Limerick on the other. The number of vessels entered 
inwards in 1873 was 578; tonnage 53,828; cleared, out- 
wards, 477; tonnage 42,544. Above and below the town 
there is a salmon fishery. The principal exports are 
grain, flour, wool, butter, fowl and bacon. Town rates, 
etc., levied £1,028; expenditure £814; harbor revenue 
£926. The borough returns 1 member to Parliament; 
constituency 218; rateable value of property £7,782. 
Markets on Wednesday and Saturday; butter market on 
Tuesdays during the season. 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 315 

NEWRY BOROUGH. 

Newey, a maritime town and Parliamentary borough, 
in the barony of Newry Lordship, Down, and Armagh 
counties, and Ulster province; 63 miles N. from Dublin; 
comprising within the Parliamentary boundary 2,543 
acres, of which 6'^9 are in the town, and 1,914 in the ru- 
ral district ; population 14,158; inhabiting 2,540 houses. 
It is situated near the mouth of the Newry Water, which 
discharges itself into Carlingford Bay, five miles from 
the town; there are 8 bridges, four of which are stone, 
and cross the river which separates the counties of Armagh 
and Down; the.' others are drawbridges over the canal. 
The public buildings are 2 Protestant churches, 2 Roman 
Catholic Chapels, one of which is the Cathedral of St. 
Patrick's, Dromore, the other, the Chapel of St Mary's; 
4 Presbyterian, 1 Independent, and 3 Methodist Meeting 
Houses; 2 Convents, 2 Court Houses, 2 Bridewells, Cus- 
tom House, Union Work-house, National Model School, 
Hospital Savings Bank, and spacious Barracks. The 
town is handsome and well built, of stone; the streets 
regular and compact, and the shops neatly fitted up and 
lighted with gas. Handsome markets and extensive wa- 
ter works have recently been erected. Along the quays 
are large and well built warehouses; there are several 
corn and flour mills, 1 brewery, 10 tan yards, 3 coach and 
car manufactories, iron and brass foundries, spade and 
shovel manufactories, and 3 large spinning mills in town. 
The other manufactures are linen, yarn, cotton, salt, iron, 
cordage, etc. The paving, lighting and cleansing of the 
streets are vested in 18 commissioners; the rates levied 
amounted to £10,814; expenditure £9,165; debt £40,000. 
The borough returns 1 member to Parliament; constitu- 
ency 1,086; rateable value of property £30,602. Car- 
lingford Lough is navigable for 6 miles by vessels of the 
greatest burden at all times, and the port admits vessels 
of 1,000 tons to Warrenpoint, 6|- miles from the town 
where the larger vessels remain; but those drawing 15 
feet can go up by the ship canal to the Albert basin 
Newry, a distance of 5 miles from the sea. A commission 



316 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

has been appointed for improving Lough Carlingford, 
and removal of the bar; the estimated cost is £80,000; 
Barges ply by the Newry canal; navigation to Lough 
Neagh, 32 miles distant inland; the JSTewry Navigation 
Company have the management of the port and canal, 
the latter of which extends along; the west side of the 
river. The income of the port amounts to £6,000 per 
annum; the number of vessels entered inwards in 1873 was 
1,576; tonnage £265,970; cleared outwards 795; tonnage 
£200,802; the principal exports are grain, provisions, 
cattle, eggs, flax, linens, and butter. The Belfast 
Junction Railway passes within 1 mile of the town and 
with the Newry and Armagh, and the Newry Warren- 
point, and the Rostrevor Railway greatly facilitates the 
trade of the town. The Newry and Greenore Railway 
connects the Newry and Armagh line with the deep 
water harbor of Greenore in Carlino-ford Louo-h. Mar- 
kets on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The New- 
ry Commercial Telegraph, and the Newry jReporter, 
newspapers, are published here. 

PORTARLTNGTON BOROUGH. 

Poet Arlington", an inland town and Parliamentary 
borough, partly in Portnahinch barony, Queen's county, 
and partly in Upper Philipstown barony, King's county, 
Leinster province, 44^- miles "W. S. W. from Dublin, 
comprising an area in Queen's county of 500 acres; pop- 
ulation 2,706, inhabiting 537 houses. The town, which 
stands on the Barrow, here crossed by two bridges, had 
its ancient name of Cultordy changed into its present by 
the proprietor, Lord Arlington, who prefixed the term 
port in consequence of its being a landing place on the 
river. The public buildings are two Protestant Churches, 
a Roman Catholic Chapel, a Methodist Meeting House, 
and a Market House. A branch of the Grand canal 
passes near it. The town is the residence of many re- 
spectable families, some of which are descendants of 
French and Flemish refugees settled here at the Restor- 
ation, when the town took its rise. Its chief manufac- 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 317 

tures are malt, soap and candles. The borough returns 
one member to Parliament; constituency 141. Rateable 
value of property £4,330. Markets on Wednesday and 
Saturday. 

SLIGO BOROUGH. 

Sltgo, a maritime town, and formerly a Parliamentary 
borough, in Carbury barony, Sligo county, and Con- 
naught province, 131 miles N. W. from Dublin, compris- 
ing an area of 3,001 acres, of which 407 are in the town, 
and 2,594 in the rural district; population 12,206. It is 
situate near the mouth of the Garrogue, which is crossed 
by 2 bridges and discharges itself into the Sligo Bay. 
The public buildings are the Ulster Bank, a Model Na- 
tional School, both beautiful edifices, 2 Churches, a Ro- 
man Catholic Chapel, 1 Friary or Abbey Church, Pres- 
byterian, Independent, and 2 Methodist Meeting Houses; 
County Court House, Prison, Infirmary, a Fever Hospital, 
Union Work House, and a Lunatic Asylum, the latter 
standing on a prominent position outside the town. The 
Town Hall was erected in 1866 ; the ground floor con- 
sists of an Exchange, Free Library and Reading room, 
Chamber of Commerce, Borough Court and Council 
Chamber, and other offices ; the upper floor comprises a 
large Assemby Room, 74 feet by 32, also a room for the 
Harbor Commissioners, Town Clerks, and other offices. 
To defray the expense a sum of £2,700 was granted 
from the reproductive loan fund of the county, and the 
balance, £2,300, was raised by voluntary subscription. 
There is a salmon fishery in the river, the property of 
Capt. Abraham Martin. The corporation consists of 6 
Aldermen and 18 Counselors, elected from three Wards. 
The number of burgesses on the roll in 1872 was 352; the 
revenue of the borough in 1875 was £11,048. The ex- 
penditure for paving, cleansing, lighting, etc., was £7,- 
949; rateable valuation £17,975. The port is under the 
control of Harbor Commissioners, elected every 3 years. 
Harbor receipts £4,990, 15s. 8d. The number of vessels 
entered inwards was 528, tonnage 78,124 ; cleared out- 



318 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

wards 474, tonnage 65,200. As a seaport, Sligo is the 
most important on the north-west coast of Ireland, ex- 
porting annually a large quantity of cured provisions, be- 
sides the cattle and agricultural produce of the surrounding 
districts. Its trade is chiefly carried on with Liverpool, 
Glasgow and Londonderry, two steamers leaving weekly 
for these ports. Three newspapers are published in the 
town, the Sligo Champion, Sligo Chronicle, and Sligo 
Independent, every Saturday. Markets on Tuesday and 
Saturday. Fairs on 27 March, 7 May, 4 July, 11 Aug- 
ust, 9 October, and also first Tuesday in each month. 

TRALEE BOROUGH. 

Tralee, a maritime town and Parliamentary borough, 
in Trughanacmy barony, Kerry County, and Munster 
province, 181|- miles W. S. W. from Dublin, comprising 
an area of 512 acres ; population 9,506, inhabiting 1,385 
houses. The town is situate on the river Lee, about a 
mile from Tralee Bay, an inlet of Ballyheigue Bay. Its 
public buildings are a Church, two Roman Catholic 
Churches, and Friary Church, two Nunneries, Monastery, 
with School attached, Presbyterian, Independent, and 
Methodist Meeting Houses, the County Court House, 
Prison, and Infirmary, Merchants' Corn Exchange, Town 
Hall, Railway Station, Union Work-House, and Barracks. 
The corporation is now extinct, and its property vested 
in the Lighting and Cleansing Commissioners. The Rev- 
enue of the Borough was £2,088 ; expenditure £2,625. 
The Borough returns one Member to Parliament; con- 
stituency 322. Rateable value of property £11,764. A 
brisk trade in grain, flour, bacon and butter, is carried 
on. The value of imports is £150,000 ; exports £200,000. 
Harbor receipts £1576, 7s. lOd. The number of vessels 
entered inwards was 348, tonnage 46,269 ; cleared out- 
wards 107, tonnage 15,066. By the ship canal vessels 
discharge at the basin, within a few hundred yards of the 
town ; large vessels discharge at the Samphire Island, 8 
miles westward. Markets on Tuesday and Saturday. 
Two newspapers published here — the Chronicle and Ker- 
ry Evening Post, 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 319 

WATERFORD COUNTY OF THE CITY, AND 
PARLIAMENTARY BOROUGH. 

Waterford, a county of a city, and Parliamentary 
borough, in Munster province, 97 miles S. S. W. from 
Dublin, comprising an area of 10,059 acres; population, 
29,979, inhabiting 4,558 houses. The city is the south- 
west bank of the Suir, and is connected with its north 
suburb of Ferrybank by a wooden bridge of 39 arches, 
832 feet long. The public buildings are Cathedral, two 
Parochial Churches, the Roman Catholic Cathedral, five 
Roman Catholic Chapels, four Convents, Presbyterian, 
Baptist, Independent, Methodist, and Friend's Meeting 
Houses, the Protestant Episcopal Palace, Roman Catho- 
lic College of St. John's, Diocesan, District, Model, Na- 
tional, Blue Coat and Christian Brothers' Schools, the 
City and County Court Houses and Prisons, District 
Lunatic Asylum, Fever Hospital, Union Workhouse, 
Town Hall, Custom House, the Savings Bank, Military 
Barracks, and Reginald's Tower. There are breweries, 
foundries, and several flour-mills in the neighborhood. 
The corporation consists of 10 Aldermen and 30 Counsel- 
ors, elected from the five wards. The number of burgesses 
on the roll in 1863 was 709. The city returns two mem- 
bers to Parliament; constituency 1,297. Borough re- 
ceipts £18.319. Expenditures for lighting, cleansing, 
paving, &c, £17,967; Debt, £76,650. The net annual 
value of property under the tenant Valuation Act is 
£53,214. 

Seven newspapers are published in the city — the Mail, 
News, Chronicle, JVevjs ^Letter, /Standard, Munster Ex- 
press, and Citizen. Markets on Monday, Wednesday, 
Thursday and Saturday. The harbor of Waterford is 
formed by the channel of the Suir from the city to its con- 
fluence with the Barrow, and from thence by the joint 
estuary of these rivers to the sea, a distance of 15 miles; 
the entrance, £§■ miles wide, which is well lighted by a 
bright fixed light on Hook £ower, 139 feet above the sea, 
and by a red light on Dunmore pier, 46 feet high, and 
two leading lights at Duncannon, also a light on the Spit 



320 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

of Passage. Vessels of 2,000 tons can discharge at the 
quays. The navigation is continued in the Suir by- 
barges to Clonmel, and in the Barrow by sailing vessels 
to New Ross, and thence by barges up that river to 
Athy, and up the Nore to Inistiogue. On the Kilkenny 
side of the river there is a ship building yard, with patent 
slip, graving bank and dock. 

Harbor receipts, £14,075. 16s. 7d. The exports are 
almost wholly agricultural. 

WEXFORD BOROUGH. 

Wexford, a maritime town and Parliamentary bor- 
ough, in Forth barony, Wexford county and Leinster 
province, 93 miles S. from Dublin, comprising an area of 
483 acres; population 12,077; inhabiting 2,127 houses. It 
is situated on the south bank of the Slaney, where that 
river discharges itself into Wexford harbor. Above the 
town the river is crossed by a bridge 1,500 feet long. 
The public buildings are 2 Protestant Churches, of the 
Establishment; 3 Catholic Chapels, 1 Friary, 5 Nunneries, 
Presbyterian, Methodist, and Friends' Meeting Houses, a 
Catholic College, National and Brothers' Schools, the 
County Court House, Prison, Infirmary, and Fever 
Hospital, Town Hall, Union Work House, a Barrack and 
Theater. Connected with the Mechanics' Institute and 
Literary Society is an interesting museum of natural 
history, etc. The manufacture of malt is carried on, and 
the herring, oyster and salmon fisheries employ many 
persons. There is a distillery, 3 breweries, and 2 steam 
corn mills. It returns 1 member to Parliament; con- 
stituency 508; rateable value of property £15,483. The 
assizes for the county are held in the town. The cor- 
poration holds a Court of Conscience for sums under £2. 
Number of burgesses 183; borough receipts £1,373; ex- 
penditure (1875), for cleansing, paving, and lighting, 
£1,366; debt £766. 

The harbor is of an oblong shape, formed by the estu- 
ary of the Slaney, extending eight miles from north to 
south, or parallel with the coast, and four miles wide, 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 321 

comprising an area of 14,000 acres. It is admirably 
situated for commerce, from its proximity to England, 
and being at the entrance to the Irish Channel; but those 
advantages are not available in consequence of a bar at 
the mouth having only twelve feet of water at high tides, 
which limits the traffic. Harbor receipts £4,461. The 
number of vessels entered inwards in 1873 was 705; 
tonnage 7,927. The quays extend 3,000 feet, and there 
is a dock yard and patent slip. Important facilities for 
commerce will soon be afforded by the completion of the 
pier at Rosslare, in the South bay of Wexford, which 
will admit large vessels lying along side at low water. 
A line of railway connecting the pier with the town of 
Wexford and the railway system of the country, has been 
completed. Four newspapers are published here, the 
Constitution, Independent, People, and County Wexford 
Express. Markets on Wednesday and Saturday. 

YOUGHAL BOROUGH. 

Youghal, a maritime town and Parliamentary borough, 
in Imokelly barony, Cork county, and Munster province; 
157 miles southwest from Dublin; comprising an area of 
345 acres; population, 6,081, inhabiting 1,070 houses. 
It is situate on the acclivity of a hill, on the west side of 
the estuary of the Blackwater, over which river there is 
a wooden bridge, 1,787 feet long. The public buildings 
are 2 Churches of the Establishment, a Catholic Chapel, 
two Convents, Independent, Methodist and Friends' 
Meeting Houses, Fever Hospital and Dispensary, Town 
House, in which are Assembly rooms, a Prison and a 
Barrack, etc. Sir Walter Raleigh's residence, now 
called Raleigh's House, is still maintained nearly in its 
original state. Coarse earthenware and bricks are man- 
ufactured. The salmon fishery of the Blackwater is 
very extensive. The number of vessels registered 259; 
tonnage 21,883; the paving, lighting and cleansing the 
streets is vested in twenty-one commissioners; the rev- 
enue (1875) £2.563; expenditure £2,588; debt £4,076; 
rateable value of property £9,540. It returns one mem- 
21 



322. GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

ber to Parliament; constituency 257. The exports prin- 
cipally grain, flour and provisions. A fair is held on the 
first Monday in every month. 



ECCLESIASTICAL DIVISIONS. 

PROVINCE OF ARMAGH. 

Comprising the Dioceses of Armagh, with the eight Suf- 
fragan Dioceses, of Meath, Derry, Clogher, Raphoe, 
Down and Connor, Kilmore, Ardagh, and Dro- 
more. 

I. DIOCESE OF ARMAGH. 

Including the entire County of Louth, almost the whole 
of Armagh, a great part of Tyrone, and a part of 
Derry. 

Parishes. — Armagh, Dundalk, Arboe, Ardee, Ard- 

-trea, Aghaloo, Ballinderry, Ballymakenny, Ballymacnab, 
Beragh, Carlingford, Clogher, Clonoe, Clonfeacle, Collon, 
Coagh, Cooley, Creggan L., Creggan U., Darver, Derry- 
noose, Desertcreight and Derryloran, Donaghmore, Dro- 
mintee or Forkhill, Dundalk, Dungannon, Dunleer, 
Eglish, Erigalkeiran, Foghart, Forkhill, Kilcurley, Kil- 
dress, Killeighthill, Killevy U., Killevy L., Kilmore, Kil- 

; ran, Knockbridge, Lordship, Loughall, Loughgilly, Louth, 
Lissan, Magherafelt, Ardtree N., Pomeroy, Portadown, 

: Stewartstown, Tallanstown, Tanderagee, Termon, Ter- 
monmaguist, Termonfeckin, Togher, Tullyallen, Tynan, 

1 C.ogherrey, St. Peter's, Driimglass, Killyinan, Tulleynis- 
kin. 

ii. — diocese of meath. 

Includes Meath, JVestmeath, the greater part of Kings' 
County, and a small portioti of Longford and of 
Cavan. 

Parishes. — Mullingar, Navan, Ardcath, Athboy, Bally- 
more, B llynacargy, Balliver, Batterstown, Blacklion, 
Bohermein and Cortown, Carolanstown, Carnaross, 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 323 

Castlejordan, Castlepollard, Castletown, Kilpatrick, Cas- 
tletowndelvin, Castletown-geoghegan, Clara, Clonmeilon, 
Collinstown, Crosses, Curraha, Drogheda, St. Mary's, 
Drumcondra, Drumraney, Duleek, Dunderry, Dysart, 
Grangegeeth, Kells, Kilberry, Kilbride, Killucan, Kings- 
court, Kilskeere, Longwood, Moyvore, Monalvy, Navan, 
Oldcastle, Killina, Ratoath, Rosnaree, Summerhill, Trim, 
Tubber, Turbotstown, Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin, Eglish, 
Frankford, Johnstown, Kilkenny, West, Kilbeggan, 
Kildalkey, Kilmeson, Kinnegad, Lobinstown, Milltown, 
Moynalty, Multifarnham, Nobber, Rahan, or Rathmolion, 
Rochfortbridge, Skryne, Slane, Stamullen, Tullamore, 
Turin, Moynalty, Churchtown, Kildorkey, Kilbeggan. 

III. DIOCESE OP DERBY. 

Includes nearly the tohole of Londonderry, part of Don- 
egal, and a large portion of Athlone. 

„ Parishes. — Templemore, Ardstraw E., Ardstraw W., 
Bodoney U., Bodoney L., Ballymacreen, Ballyscullion, 
Balteagh, Drumachose, and Aghanlos, Banagher, and part 
of Bovevagh, Burt and Inch, Cappagh, Cloncha, Clonleigh, 
Camrus, Clonmany, Culdaff, Cumber U. and Learmont, 
Dysertegny, and L. Fahan, Desertmartin, and Kilcro- 
naghan, Donagh, Donagheady, and Leckpatrick, Donagh- 
more, Drumragh, Dunboe, Macosquin, and Aghadooweny, 
Dungiven, and part of Bovegagh, Errigle, Faughanvale, 
Glendermott, and Lower Cumber, Iskaheen, Kilrea, and 
Desertoghill, Longfield, Maghera, Moville U. and. L., 
Tamlaght O'Crilly, Tamlaght, Ard, Termoneeney, and 
part of Maghera, Termonamongan, Urney. 

IV. — DIOCESE OF CLOGHER. 

Includes Monaghan, almost the whole of Fermanagh, 
a large portion of Tyrone, with portion of Donegal 
and Louth. 

Parishes.— Clontibert, Monaghan, Aughabog, Augna- 
mullen E., Augnamullen W., Black Bog, Brookborough, 
Carrickmacross, Cleenisb, Clogher, Clones, Currin, 



324: GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

Derrygonnelly, Donacavy, Donagh, Donaglimoyne, 
Dromore, Drummully, Drumsnat and Kilmore, Ematris, 
Enniskillen, Errigle Truagh, Garrison, Inniskeen, Innis- 
macsaint, Killaney, Killeevan, Killskerry, Magheracloone, 
Maguire's Bridge, Muckno, Pettis^o, Rosslea, Tempo, 
Tullycorbet, Tydavnet, Tyholland, Whitehill. 

V. DIOCESE OP RAPHOE. 

Includes nearly the whole of Donegal except the Barony 

of Inishowen. 

Parishes. — Conwal and Leek, Allsaints Raymochy, 
Taughboyne, Ardara, Aughnish and Aughaninshin, Clon- 
dahorky, Clondavadog, Drimholme, Gartan, Glencolum- 
kille, Inishkeel, Inver, Kilbarron, Kilcar, Killyraard, 
Kilteevouge, Killebegs and Killaghtee, Killegarven and 
Tully, Kilmacrenan, Lettermacaward, Mevagh, Raphoe, 
Stranorlar, Tawnawilly, Templecrone and Arranmore 
Island, Tullaghbegley-east, Raymunterdony and Tory 
Island, Tullaghbegley-west. 

VI. DIOCESES OP DOWN AND CONNOR. 

Parishes. — St. Peter's, Fall'sroad, St. Mary's, Chaner- 
lane, St. Patrick's, Donegal, St. Malachy's, Alfred St., Bal- 
lymacarret, Ahoghill, Ards Lower, Armoy, Aghagallon, 
Bailee and Ballyculter, Ballycastle, Ballygalget, Bally- 
mena, Ballymoney, Bright, Bryan sford,Carrickfergus, Col- 
eraine, Culfeightrin, Cushendall, Derryagby, Down, Drum- 
maul, Duncane, Dunloy, Dunsford, Glenarm, Glenavy, 
Glenravil or Skerry, Greencastle, Holywood, Innispollan 
or Cushenden, Kilclief, Kilcoo, Kilmegan, Kilmore, Lome, 
Lisburn, Loughanisland, Loughgiel, Mourne Lower, 
Mourne Upper, Newtown ards, Portaferry or Ballyphilip, 
Portglenone, Portrush, Rasharkan, Rathlin Island or 
Saintfield, Saul, Tyrella. 

VII. DIOCESE OF KILMORE. 

Includes nearly all of Cavan and parts of Leitrim and 
Fermanagh. 

Parishes. — Urney and Aunageliff, Castlerahan and 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 325 

Munterconn aught, Anna, Ballaghameehan, Ballina- 
cleragh, Ballinamore, Ballintemple, Carrigallen, Castle- 
tara, Crosserlough, Denn, Drumgoon, Drumlane, Drum- 
lease, Drumreilly Upper, Drumreilly Lower, Drung, 
Glenade, Glenfarn, Glengevlin, Innismagrath, Kildallen, 
and Tomregan, Killinagh, Killiann, Killargy, Killasnet, 
Killesher, Killeshandra, Killinkere, Kilmore, Kilsher- 
dany, Kinawley, Kinlough, Knockbride, Knockninny, 
Laragh, Lavey, Lurgan, Moyholongue and Kilmainhara, 
Mullagh, Templeport. 

VIII.— DIOCESE OF ARDAGH. 

Includes nearly all of Longford, the greater part of 
Leitrim, and portions of King's county, Westmeath, 
Moscommon, Cavan and Sligo. 

Parishes. — Templemichael and Ballymacormac, Bally- 
loughloe and Kilcleigh or Moate Calry, Abbelara, Anna- 
duff, Ardagh and Moydow, Aughavass, Ballymahon, or 
Shrule, Bornacoola, Cashel, Clonbroney, Clongish, Clon- 
gish, Clonmacnoise, Cloone, Cluan a Donald and Killa- 
shee, Columbkille, Dromard, Drumlish, Drumlummon 
North and Loughdruff, Drumlummon South and Bally- 
mac Hugh, Fenagh, Gallen and Reynagh, Gortleteragh, 
Granard, Kilcommogue, Kilglass or Lagan, Killenumera 
and Killery, Killoe, Kilronan, Kiltoghert, Kiltubbrid 
Mary's St., Maustrim, Milane and Ballynahown, Mohill, 
Murhane, RathaspicandRussagh, Rathcline, Scrabby and 
Columbskille East, Street, Tashing, Taghshiney and Ab- 
beyderg, Wheera and Tisaron. 

IX.— DIOCESE of dromore. 

Includes parts of the counties of Down, Armagh, and 
Antrim. 

Parishes. — Newry, Aghaderg, Armaclone, Banbridge, 
Clonallen, Clonuff, Dromara, Dromgoolan Lower, Drom- 
goolan Upper, Dromore, Drumgath, Dunmore, Glenn, 
Kilbroney, Lurgan, Maheralin, Seagoe, Tullyish. 



326 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

PROVINCE OF DUBLIN. 

Comprising the dioceses of Dubli?i, with the three Suffra- 
gan dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin, Ossory and 
Ferns. * 

X. DIOCESE OP DUBLIN. 

Includes Dublin, nearly all Wicklow, and portions of 
Kildare, Queen? 8 County, Carlow and Wexford. 
Parishes. — St. Mary's, St. Andrew's, St. Audeon's, St. 
Catharine's, St. James', St. Kevin's, St. Laurence 
O'Toole's, SS. Michael and John's, St. Michan's, St. 
Nicholas without, SS. Peter and Paul's, St. Agatha, Ark- 
low, Ashford and Glenealy, Athy, Baldoyle, Howthe, 
Ballymore, Eustace, Balrothery, Blackditches,Blanchard- 
town, Blessington, Eadstown and Kilbride, Booterstown, 
Blackrock and Dundrum, Bray, Bray Little, Cabinteely, 
Castledermot, Albridge and Straffan, Clontarf, and Coo- 
lock, Dalky and Bally brack, Don abate, Dunlavin, Ennis- 
kerry, Finglass and St. Margaret, Garristown, Glende- 
lough, Irishtown and Donnybrook, Kilbride, Kilcullen, 
Kilquade, Kingstown and Monkstown, Lusk, Maynooth 
and Leixlip, Narraghmore, Naul, Newbridge, Palmers- 
town, Lucan and Clondalkin, Rathdrum, Rathfarnham, 
Rathmines and Miltown, or SS. Mary and Peter, Rathgar, 
Rolestown, Rush, Saggart, Rathcoole and Newcastle, 
Sandyford, Skerries, Swods, Wicklow. 

XI. DIOCESE OP KILDARE AND LEIGHLIN. 

Includes the County of Carlow, and parts of Kildare, 
Queen's County, King^s County, Kilkenny, Wicklow 
and Wexford. 

Parishes. — Carlow, Abbyleix, Allen and Milltown, 
Aries and Ballylinan, Bagnalstown, Ballinakill, Ballon 
and Rathoe, Ballyadams, Ballyfin, Baltinglass, Balyna, 
Borris, Caragh, Carbury, Clane, Clonaslie, Clonega], Clon- 
bullbgue, Clonmore, Curraghcamp, Doonane, Edenderrv, 
Graig, Hacketston, Killock, Kildare and Rathangan, 
Kill and Lyons, Killeigh and Geashill, Killeshin, Leigh- 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 327 

linbridge, Maryborough, Monasterevan, Mountmellick, 
Mountrath, Mullin's St. Myshall, Naas, Newbridge, Pauls- 
town and Goresbri'dge, Philipstown, Raheen, Ratkvilly, 
Rhode, Rosenallis, Sancroft, Stradbally, Tinryland and 
Tullow. 

XII. — DIOCESE OF OSSORY. 

Includes Kilkenny and portions of King's and Queeii's 
Counties. 

Parishes.— St. John's, St. Mary's, Aghavoe, Bally- 
cullan, Ballyhale, Ballyragget, Borris-in-Ossory, Callan, 
Castlecomer, Castletown, Clara, Clough, Comeries, 
Conahy, Deansfort, Dunamanagan, Durrow, Freshfort^ 
Gal way, Glenmore, Gowran, Huginstown, Inistiogue, 
Johnstown, Kilmacow, Lisdowney, Mooncoin, Muckalee, 
Muliinavat, Rathdowney, Rosbercon, Seirkieran, Skirk, 
Slieverue, St. Canice's, St. Patrick, Templeorum, 
Thomastown, Tullaherin, Tullaroan, Urlingford, Wind- 
gap. 

XIII. DIOCESE OF FERNS. 

Includes the entire of Wexford and part of Wicklow. 

Parishes. — Enniscorthy, Camolin, Adamstown, Anna- 
cura, and Killaveny, Ballindaggin, Ballygarrett, Ban- 
no w, . Blackwater, Bree, Castle Bridge, Clongeen, 
Cloughbawn, and Poulpeasty, Grossabeg, Cushenstown, 
Davidstown, Ferns, Glynn, Gorey, Kilanerin, Kilmore, 
Kilnesh, Lady's Island, Litter, Monageer, Moylass, and 
Ballymore, New Ross, Newtownbarry, Oylegate, Oulart, 
Piercetown, Poulfur, and Templetown, Ramsgrange, and 
Duncannon, Rathangan, Rathnure, and Templedigan, 
Suttons, and Hoerwood, Taghmon, Tagoat, Tinturn, 
Tomacork, Wexford. 



PROVINCE OF CASHEL. 

Comprising the Archdiocese of Gashel and Diocese of 
Emly, with Suffragan dioceses of Cork, Killaloe, 
Kerry, Limerick, Waterford and Lismore, Cloyne, 
Hoss and Kilfenora. 



32 S GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 



XIV. ARCHDIOCESE OP CASHEL AND DIOCESE OP EMLY. 

Includes the chief part of Tipper ary and part of Lim- 
erick Counties. 

Parishes. — Thurles, Annecarthy, Ballinahincb, Ballin- 
garry, Ballybricken, Ballylander, Ballyna, Bansha and 
Kilmoyler y Boherlahan and Dualla,Borrisaleigh,Cohercon- 
lish, Cappamore, Cappawhite, Cashel, Clerihan, Clonoulty, 
Donoskeigh, Doone, Drangan, Drom and Inch, Emly, 
Fethard and Killusty, Galbally, Golden, Gurtnahoe, Holy- 
cross, Hospital, Kilbenny, Kilcummin, Killenaul, Killteely, 
Knockany, Knocklong, Lattan and Cullin, Loughmore, 
Moycarkey, Moyne, Mullinahone, Murrow and Boher, 
Newinn, Newport, Tipp. Pallasgreen, Templemore, 
Tipp.Ulla and Solohead, Upperclmrch. 

XY. DIOCESE OF CORK. 

Includes Cork and a part of Kerry. 

Parishes. — Cathedral, North Parish, SS. Peter and 
Paul, St. Patrick's, South Parish, Ballincollig, Ballinhas- 
sig, Bandon, Bantry, Blackrock, Coheragh, Carrigaline,' 
Olountead and Ballyrnartle, Coursey's Country, Douglass, 
Drimalogue, Dummanway, Glanmire, Glauntane, Inis- 
hannon, Enniskean, Iveleary, Kilbrittain, Kilmichael, 
Kilmurry, Kin sale, Murragh, Muinteravare, Ovens, Pas- 
sage, Skull West, Skull East, Tracton, Watergrass Hill. 

XVI. DIOCESE OF KILLALOE. 

Includes portions of Clare, Tipperary, King's County, 

Qalway, Limerick and Queerfs County. 

Parishes. — Nenagh, Newmarket, Aghancon, Birr, 
Borrisokane, Broadford, Burgess and Youghal, Callag- 
lian's Mills, Carrigaholt, Castleconnell, Castletown-arra, 
Clare Abbey, Cloghprior and Mousea Clondegad, don- 
nish, Cloughjordaii, Corofin, Couraganeen, Crusheen, 
Doonass, Doora, Dunkerin, Dysart, Ennis, Feacle Lower, 
lnagh Inch and Kilmaley, Kilbarron, Kildysart, Kilfar- 
boy, Kilkee, Kilkeedy, Killaloe, Killanena, Killard, Kil 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 329 

liney, Kilmacduane, Kilmichael, Kilmurry, Ibricknane, 
Kilmurry, McMahon, Kilnanave and Templederry, Kil- 
noe, Kilnish, Kinnetty, Kyle and Knock, Lorrha and 
Durrha, Ogonnelloe, Quin, Roscrea, Scariff and Moynoe, 
Shinrone, Silvermines, Six-mile-bridge, Tulla, Tooma- 
vara. 

XVII. DIOCESE OP KERRY. 

Includes Kerry and part of Cork. 
Parishes. — Killarney, Abbedorney, Aghadoe, Agha- 
vallen, Ardfort, Ballinvoher and Cappaclough, Bally- 
heigue, Ballymac Elligot, Brosna, Cahirciven, Castle-ire- 
land, Dingle, Drishane, Dromod, Dromtariff, Duagh, 
Glenbehy, Keelmachedor, Kenmare, Lilaconenagh, Kil- 
caskan, Kilcaskan Sonth, Kileatherine, Kilcrohane East, 
Kiicrohane West, Kilcummin East, Kilcummin "West, 
Kilcolman, Kileentierna, Kilgarvan, Killaha, Killcarah, 
Killiney, Killorglin, Killtalagh, Killury, Kilmeen, Kil- 
namanagh, Kilnaughten, Knockane, Lisselton, Listowel, 
Molahiffe, Murker and Knuckanaru, Prior, Tralee, Tuos- 
ist, Valentia. 

XVIII. DIOCESE OP LIMERICK. 

Includes Limerick and a small portion of Clare. 

Parishes. — St. John's, St. Michael's, Abbeyfeals, 
Adare, Ardagh, Ardpatrick, Askeaton, Athea, Ballin- 
garry, Ballygran, Banniogue, Bruff, Bulgaddin, Cappagh, 
Colmanswell, Coolcappa, Cratloe, Croagh, Croom, Don- 
aghmore, Dromin, Drumcolliher, Effin, Fedamore, Feen- 
agh, Glenroe, Glin, Kildimo, Kilfinane, Killeedy, Kilm- 
allock, Knockaderry, Longhill, Mahoonagh, Manister, 
Moaegea, Mungret, Newcastle, Parteen, Patrick's Well, 
Rathkeale, Rockhill, St. Mary's, St. Munchin's, St. Pat- 
rick's, Shanagolden, Stonehall, Templeglantane, Tourn- 
afulla. 

XIX. DIOCESES OF WATERFORD AND LISMORE. 

Includes Waterford and parts of Tipperary and Cork. 
Parishes. — Triiity, Within, St. John's, Ballygunner, 



330 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

Abbeyside, Aglish, Ardfinnan, Ardmore, Ballyduff, Bal- 
lylooby, Ballyneale, Ballyporeen, Caher, Cappoquin, Car- 
nckbeg, Carrick-on-Suir, Clashmore, Clogheen, Clonmel, 
St. Peter's and St. Paul's, Dungarvan, Dunhill and Fen- 
nor, Four-mile-water or Newcastle, Gammon's Field 
or Kileash, Irishtown, St. Mary's and Abbey, Kilgobinet, 
Kill and Newton, Killrossanty and Fews, Knockanure 
and Kilwatermoy, Lismore, Modeligo, Passage, Portlaw, 
Powerstown, Rothcormack and Clonee, Ring and Old 
Parish, St. Patrick's, Slievegue, Stradbally and Bally- 
Ian een, Fallow, Tramore, Trinity Without or Bally- 
bricken. 

XX. DIOCESE OF CLOYNE, 

Includes a large portion of Cork. 
Parishes. — Queenstown, Fermoy, Aghabulloge, Ag- 
hada, Aghinagh, Aankissy, Ballinamona, Ballyclough, 
Ballyhea, Ballymacoda, Ballvourney, Blarney, Buttevant, 
Carrigtoohill, Oastlelyons, Castlemagner, Castletownroche, 
Charleville, Clondrohid, Clonmeen, Cloyne, Conna, Don- 
eraile, Donoughmore, Freemount, Glanworth, Glountane, 
Genagh, Imogeela, Inscarra, Kanturk, Kilclorrery, Kil- 
leagh, Kilworth, Liscarrol, Lisgoold, Macroom, Mallow, 
Mitchelstown, Middleton, Newmarket, Rathcormack, 
Rock, the Shandrum, Tuonadronien, Youghal. 

XXI. DIOCESE OF ROSS. 

Includes part of Cork. 

Parishes. — Skibbereen, Kilmacabea, Ardfield, Augha- 
down, Barryroe, Castlehaven, Clonakilty, Kilmeen, Rath, 
and the islands of Cape Clear and Sherkin, Roscarberry, 
Timoleague, and Clogach. 



PROVINCE OF TUAM. 

Comprises the Archbishopric of Tuam, and the seven 
dioceses of Tuam, Clonfert, Achonry, Elphin, Kil- 
macduagh and Kilfenora^ Killala and Galway. 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 331 



XXII. DIOCESE OF TUAM. 

Includes nearly all of 3Iayo, portion of Galway, and 
part of Hoscommon. 

Parishes. — Aughaval, Tuam, Abbeyknockmoy, Achill, 
Adagool and Liskeevy, Armagh, Annadovvn, Arran Island, 
Athenry, Aughagower, Balla and Manulla, Ballinakil and 
Inishbotin, Ballinrobe, Becan, Barriscarra andBallintober, 
Boyounagh, Burrisoole, Clare Island, Cong, Crossbogue 
and Tagheen, Donoghpatrick and Kilcoona, Dunmore, 
Eglish, Bally hane and Breaghwy, Islandeady and Glen 
Island, Kilcolman, Kilcommon and Robeen, Kilconly and 
Kilbannon, Kildacomogue, Kilgeever, Kilkerrin and 
Clonbern, Killanin, Killeen, Killererin, Killescobe, Kil- 
lursa and Killower, Kilmainmore, Kilmolara, Kilmoylan 
and Cummer, Kiltulla, , Kilvine, Knock and Aghamore, 
Lackagh, Mayo and Roslea, Moore, Moylougb, Moyrus, 
Omey and Ballindoon, Party, Ross, Roundstone, Spiddal, 
Templetogher, Turlough. 

XXIII. DIOCESE OF CLONFERT. 

Includes Galway, Hoscommon and King's County. 

Parishes. — Loughrea, Tynagh, Abbeygormacan and 
Killoran, Aughrim and Kilconnel, Ballymacword and 
Clonkeenkerril, Ballynakill Lower, Ballynakill Upper, 
Bullane, Grange and Killaun, Confert, Donanaghta and 
Meelick, Clontuskert, Creagh and Kilcloony, Duniry and 
Kilnelaghan, Fahy and Kilquane, Tohenagh and Kilger- 
rill, Killcomekney, Kilconieran and Lickerrig, Kilcooley 
and Leitrim, Killalaghtan and Kilrickill, Killimor- 
bologue and Tiranascragh, Killimordally and Kiltulla, 
Kilmalanogue and Lickmolassy, Kilnadeema and Kilte- 
skili, Lusmagh, Oghill and Kiltormer, Taghmacconnell. 

XXIV. DIOCESE OF ACHONRY. 

Includes portions of 3Iayo and /Sligo, and a small 
part of Roscommon. 

Parishes. — Castlemore and Kilcolman, Acbonry, Ar- 



332 GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 

tymass, Ballysadore and Kilvarnet, Ballymote, Bohola, 
Oarraoastle, Cloonacool, Curry, Drumrath, Kilconduff, 
Kilfree and Killarraght, Kilgarvan, Killasser, Killebe- 
hagh, Killedan, Kilmovee, Killoran, Kilmacteague, Kil- 
shalvy, Kilturra, and Cloonoghill, Templemore, Toomore. 

XXV. DIOCESE OF ELPHIN. 

Includes Roscommon and a large portion of Sligo and 
Galway. 

Parishes. — Athlone, St. Peter's and Drum, Ahascragh 
and Caltra, Ahamlish, Ardcarne, Athleague, Aughana, 
Aughrim, Ballintubber, Baslick, Boyle, Clontooskert, 
Creeve, Drumcliff, Dysart, Elphin, Fuerty, Geevagh, 
Glinsk and Kilcroan, Kilbignet, Kilbride and Kilgefin, 
Kilcorkey and Frenchpark, Kilglass, Kilkeevin, Killian 
and Kilrosan, Killucan and Killummod, Kilmore, Kil- 
namana and Estersnow, Kiltoora, Kiltrustan, Buinlin, 
LissonufFy and Cloonfinlough, Loughglyn and Lisacull, 
Ogulla, Oran, Roscommon and Kilteevan, St. John's, 
Killenvoy and Kilmaine, Sligo, Coolery and Calry, Tar- 
monbarry, Townagh, Riverstown and Kilross, Tessaragh 
and Rahara, Tibohine and Fairymount. 

XXYI. UNITED DIOCESES OF KILMACDUAGH AND KIL- 

FENORA. 

Parishes. — Kinvarra, Ardrahan, Ballinderreen, Beagh 
Craughwell, Kiibeacanty, Kilcreest, Kilcornan, Kilmac- 
duagh and Kiltartan, Kilthomas. 

DIOCESE OF KILFENORA. 

Parishes. — Carron, Ennistymon, Glanaragah, Kilfe- 
nora, Kilshanny, New Quay, Touheran, Touclea. 

xxvii. — diocese of galway. 

All in County Galway, except Shrule, which is in the 

County Mayo. 

St. Nicholas East, Rahoon, Claregalway, Oastlegar, 
Kilcummin, Moycullen, Oranmore and Ballynacourty, 



GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. 333 

Rusmuck and Lettermullan, Shrule, Spiddal, St. Nich- 
olas North, St. Nicholas South, St. Nicholas West. 

XXYIII. DIOCESE OE KILLALA. 

Includes portions of Mayo and Sligo. 
Backs, Kilmoremoy, Adragool, Ardah, Ballysakeery, 
Ballycroy, Belmullet, Castleconnor, Crossmolina, Doon- 
feeny and Ballycastle, Easky, Kilcommon, Erris, Kilfian, 
Kilglass, Killala, Kilmacshilgan, Kilmore, Ennis, Lackan, 
Moygawnagh, Skreen and Dromard, Templeboy. 



POPULATION. 



ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CITIES, COUNTIES OF TOWNS, PARLIA- 
MENTARY BOROUGHS. MUNICIPAL TOWNS, TOWNSHIPS, AND 
ALL OTHER TOWNS IN IRELAND EXCEEDING 120 IN- 
HABITANTS, ACCORDING TO THE LAST CENSUS, 
WITH THE COUNTY IN WHICH SITUATE. 

COUNTIES OF CITIES AND COUNTIES OF TOWNS MARKED *; CORPORATE BOROUGHS t? PAR- 
LIAMENTARY BOROUGHS %; MUNICIPAL TOWNS HAVING TOWN COMMISSIONERS h 
TOWNSHIPS HAVING TOWN COMMISSIONERS \. 



Abbey, 329, Tipperary. 
Abbeydorney, 256, Kerry. 
Abbeyfeale, 993, Limerick. 
Abbeylara, 175, Longford. 
Abbeyleix, 1,247, Queen's. 
Abbeyshrule, 145, Longford 
Aclare, 187, Sligo. 
Adare, 721, Limerick. 
Aghada, Upper, 197, Cork. 
Aglish, 206, Waterford. 
Ahascragh, 425, Galway. 
Ahenny, 206, Tipperary. 
Aboghill, 839, Antrim. 
Anascaul, 252, Kerry. 
Annagassan, 159, Louth. 
Annalong, 180, Down. 
Annsborough, 608, Down. 
I Antrim, 2,020. Antrim. 
Ardagh, 349, Limerick. 
Ardagh, 165, Longford. 
Ardara, 575, Donegal. 
I Ardee, 2,972, Loutb. 
Ardfert, 192, Kerry. 
Ardfinnan, 360, Tipperary. 
Ardglass, 613, Down. 
Ardmore. 407, Waterford. 
Arklow, 5,178, Wicklow. 
Arless, 128, Queen's. 
* % Armagh, 8,946, Armagh. 
Armoy, 366, Antrim. 
Arthurstown, 189, Wexford. 
Articlave, 217, Derry. 
Arvagb, 696, Cavan. 
Ashbourne, 289, Meath. 
Ashbrook, 177, Roscom. 
Askeaton, 1,353, Limerick. 
Athboy, 861 , Meath 
Athea, 310, Limerick. 
Athenry, 1,194, Galway. 
Athleague, 219, Roscom. 
J§Athlone, 6.565, Roscom- 
mon and Westmeath. 



Athlumney, 140 Meath. 
2 Atby, 4.510, Kildare. 
Augher, 396, Tyrone. 
2 Aughnacloy, 1 ,465, Tyrone 
Aughrim, 271, Galway. 
§ Bagnalstown, 2,309, Carl. 
Bailieborough, 1,280, Cav. 
?Balbriggan. 2.332, Dublin 
Baldoyle, 602, Dublin. 
Balla, 453, Mayo. 
Ballaghadereen, 1496, Mayo 
Ballickmoyler, 261, Queen's 
g Ballina, 5,551, Mayo and 

Sligo. 
Ballina, 272, Tipperary. 
Kallinakill, 743, Queen's. 
Ballinalack, 206, Westm'th. 
Ballinalee, 192, Longford. 
Ballinamore, 534, Leitrim. 
gBallinasloe, 5,052, Galway 

and Roscommon. 
Ballincollig, 524, Cork. 
Ballindine, 271, Mayo. 
Ballindrait, 156, Donegal. 
Ballingarry. 873, Limerick. 
Ballingarry, 339, Tipperary. 
Ballinlough, 202, Roscom. 
Ballinrobe, 2,408, Mavo. 
Ballinspittle. 121, Cork. 
Ballintemple. 1,000, Cork. 
Ballintogher, 129, Sligo. 
Ballintoy, 211, Antrim. 
Ballintra, 468, Donegal. 
Ballinunty. 953, Tipperary. 
Ballitore. 446, Kildare. 
Ballivor, 159, Meath. 
Ballon, 157, Carlow. 
jSBallybay. 1,714, Monagh. 
Ballyboden, 151, Dublin. 
Ballybofey, 881, Donegal. 
Ballyboy, 145, King's. 
Ballybrittas, 160, Queen's. 



Ballybunnion, 215, Kerry. 
Ballycanew, 259, Wexford. 
Ballycarry, 319, Antrim. 
Ballycastle, 1,739, Antrim. 
Ballycastle, 372, Mayo. 
Ballyclare, 1,021, Antrim. 
Ballyclerahan, 309, Tip. 
Ballvclogh, 326, Cork. 
Ballycolla. 222, Queen's. 
Bally conn ell, 429 Cavan. 
Ballycottin, 579, Cork. 
Ballycumber, 165, King's. 
Ballydehob, 640, Cork. 
Ballydonegan, 450, Cork. 
Ballyduff. 208, Kerry. 
Baliyduff, 214, Waterford. 
Ballyeaston, 182, Antrim. 
Ballyfarnan, 344, Roscom. 
Ballygar, 487, Galway. 
Ballygawley, 560, Tyrone. 
Bailygorev. 151, Kilkenny. 
Ballyhack. 197, Wexford. 
Ballyhahill, 126, Limerick. 
Ballvhaise, 227, Cavan. 
Ballybalbert. 454,'Down. 
Ballvhale, 255, Kilkenny. 
Ballyhaunis, 542, Mayo. 
Ballyheige, 257, Kerry. 
Ballyhooly, 263, Coi'k. 
Ballyhornan, 156, Down. 
Ballyjamesduff, 714, Cavan. 
Ballyknockan, 169, Carlow. 
Ballyknockan, 278,Wickl'w. 
Ballylanders, 525, Limerick. 
Ballylaneen, 142, Waterf'rd. 
Ballylongford, 836, Kerry. 
Ballylynan, 242. Queen's. 
Ballymacoda, 217, Cork. 
Ballymagorry, 155, Tyrone. 
Ballymaguigan, 135. Deny. 
Ballj'mabon, 914, Lonford. 
gBallymena, 7,931, Antrim. 



(334) 



POPULATION IN CITIES AND TOWNS. 



335 



Bnllymoe, 193, Galway. 

$ Ballymoney, 2,930, Antrim 

Ballymore-Eustace, 719, Kil 
dare. 

Ballymore,441, Westm'th. 

Ballymote, 1,180, Sligo. 

Ballynacarrigy, 368, West- 
meath. 

Ballynacorra, 396, Cork. 

Ballyna'auna and Clondu- 
lane,l 33, Cork. 

Ballynagaul, or Ringville, 
386, Waterford. 

Ballynahinch, 1,225, Down. 

Ballyneen, 386, Cork. 

Ballynoe, 208, Cork. 

Ballynure, 321, Antrim. 

Ballyorgan, 167, Limerick. 

B dlyporeen, 616, Tip. 

Ballyquin, 168. Kerry. 

Ballyragget, 936, Kilkenny. 

Ballvroan. 354, Queen's. 

Ballysadere, 392, Sligo, 

\ Baliyshannon, 2,958, Don- 
egal. 

Bally vaghan, 213, Clare. 

Ballywalter, 702, Down. 

Balrothery. 176, Dublin. 

Balscadden, 140, Dublin. 

Baltimore, 193, Cork. 

Baltinglass, 1,241, Wickl. 

Baltray, 364, Louth. 

Banagher, 1,206, King's. 

? Ban bridge, 5.600, Down. 

tBandon, 6,131, Cork. 

2 Bangor, 2,560, Down. 

Barm Villa-row, 113, Down. 

Bansha. 373, Tipperary. 

Ban-try, 2,830. Cork. 

Barna, 195, Galway. 

Baurroe and Feakle, 198, 
Clare. 

It Belfast, 174,412, Antrim 
and Down. 

Belgooly, 105, Cork. 

Bellaghy, 491, Derry. 

Bellahy, 329, Sligo. 

Bellanagare, 180, Roscom. 

Bellanamallard, 285, Fer- 
managh. 

Bellananagh, 630, Cavan. 

Bellanode, 129, Monaghan. 

Belleek, 327, Fermanagh. 

Belmullet, 849, Mayo. 

2 Belturbet, 1,759, Cavan. 

Benburb, 192, Tyrone. 

Bcnnettsbridge, 210, Kil- 
kenny. 

Beragh, 470, Tyrone. 

Bessbrook, 2,215, Armagh. 

Binghamstown, 154, Mayo. 

Blackroek, 562, Cork. 

If Blackroek, 8,089, Dublin 

Blackroek, 392. Louth. 

Blackwater, 231, Wexford 

Blackwatertown, 253, Ar- 
magh. 

Bianchardstown, 239, Dub. 

Blarney, 346, Cork. 

Blennerville, 389, Kerry.. 

Blepsington. 407, Wicklow 

Boherboy, 152, Cork. 

Borris, 601, Carlow. 



Borris-in-Ossory. 562, 

Queen's. 
Borrisokane, 842, Tipp'r'ry. 
Borrisoleigh, 772, Tipp'r'ry. 
2 Boyle, 3,347, Roscommon. 

1 Bray, 6,087, Wicklow and 

Dublin. 

Bridebridge. 188, Cork. 

Bridgetown, 144, Wexford. 

Broadford, 273, Clare. 

Broadford, 223, Limerick. 

Broadway, 129, Wexford. 

Brookborough, 390, Fer- 
managh. 

Brosna, 282, Kerry. 

Broughshane, 728, Antrim. 

Bruff, 1,687, Limerick. 

Bruree, 520, Limerick, 

Buncrana, 755, Donegal. 

Bundoran, 744. Donegal 

Bunlahy, 129, Longford. 

Bunmahon, 602, Waterford, 

Burncourt, 157. Tipperary. 

Bushmills, 1,008, Antrim. 

Butlersbridge, 151, Cavan. 

Butlerstown, 135, Cork. 

Buttevant, 1,756, Cork, 

Cabinteely, 226, Dublin. 

Caherconlish, 432, Limerick. 

Caher, 2,694. Tipperary. 

Caherciveen, 1,925, Kerry. 

Caledon, 579, Tvrone. 

gCallan, 2,387, Kilkenny. 

Camlough, 224, Armagh. 

Camolin, 483, Wexford. 

Canpile, 145, Wexford. 

Cappagh, 166, Clare. 

Cappagh White, 657, Tip. 

Cappamore, 975, Limerick. 

Cappoquin, 1,526, Waterf. 

Carlanstown, 151, Meath. 

Carlingford, 971, Louth. 

X 2 Carlo, 7,842, Carlow and 
Queen's. 

Carndonagh, 737, Donegal. 

Carnew, 801, Wicklow. 

Carnlough, 541, Antrim. 

Carrickduff. 132, Carlow. 

*JCar. Fergus, 9,397,Antrim. 

2 Carrickmacross, 2,017, 
Monaghan. 

Carrick-on-Shannon, 1,431, 
Leitrim and Roscommon. 

(jCarrick-on-Suir, 7,792 Tip- 
perary and Waterford. 

Carrigaholt, 430, Clare. 

Carrigaline, 329, Cork. 

Carrigallen, 335, Leitrim. 

Carrigans, 184, Donegal. 

Carrigtohill, 700, Cork. 

Carrowarren , 146, Clare. 

Carrowdore, 502, Down. 

*2Cashel, 4,562, Tipperary. 

gCastlebar, 3,571, Mayo. 

Castlebellingham, 537, L'th. 

Castleblayney, 1,807, Mon. 

Castlebridge, 292, Wexford. 

Castlecaul field, 185, Tyrone. 

Castlecomer, 1,321, Kilk'ny. 

Castleconnell, 478, Limr'ck. 

Castledawson, 585, Derry. 

jCastlederg, 703, Tyrone. 

(Castledermot, 727, Kildare, 



Castlefinn, 382, Donegal. 

Castlegregoi'y, 561, Kerry. 

Castleisland, 1,767, Kerry. 

Castleknock, 147, Dublin. 

Castlelyons, 456, Cork, 

Castlemaine, 179, Kerry. 

Castlemartyr, 536, Cork. 

Castlepollard, 932, Westm. 

Castlereagh, 1.146, Roscom. 

Castletown, 237, Queen's. 

Castletown, 207, Westm'th. 

Castletown-Bearhaven , 
1,002, Cork. 

Castletownroche, 801, Cork. 

Castletownsend, 474, Cork. 

Castlewellan, 763, Down. 

Causeway, 231, Kerry. 

$CaVrt,n. 3,389, Cavan. 

Cecilstown, 154, Cork.' 

Celbridge, 1,391, Kildare. 

Chapelizod, 1,280, Dublin. 

Charlemont, 391, Armagh. 

Charlestown, 148, Armagh. 

Charlestown, 709, Mayo. 

Charleville, 2,482, Cork. 

Checkpoint, 214, Waterf 'rd. 

(Jhurchtown, 253, Cork. 

Churcbtown, 138, Wexford. 

Civiltown, 142, Down. 

Clady. 121, Tyrone. 

Clane, 266. Kildare. 

Clara, 832, King's. 

Clare, 877, Clare. 

Claremorris, 1.103, Mayo. 

Clashavodig, 326, Cork. 

Clashmore, 154, Waterford. 

Claudy, 205, Derry. 

Clifden, 1,313, Galway. 

Cloanmines. 882, Cork. 

Clogh, 459, Kilkenny. 

Cloghan, 274, King's. 

Clogheen, 1,317, Tipperary. 

Clogher, 760, Louth. 

Clogher, 242, Tyrone. 

Cloghjordan, 668, Tip. 

Cloghmills, 144, Antrim. 

Clohamon, 180, Wexlord. 

2 Clonakilty, 3,568, Cork. 

Clonaslee, 357. Queen's. 

Clondal.kin, 470, Dublin. 

Clonee, 202, Meath. 

CJonegall, 245, Carlow. 

§ Clones, 2,170, Monaghan. 

Clonmany, 123, Donegal. 

Clonmellon, 514, Westm'th. 

ttClonmel, 10,112, Tipper- 
ary and Waterford. 

Clonroche, 324, Wexford. 

\ Clontarf, 3,412, Dublin. 

Clonygowan 141, King's. 

Cloondara, 166, Longford. 

Cloone, 132, Leitrim. 

Clough, 272, Down. 

Cloyne, 1,235. Cork. 

Coachford, 138, Cork. 

Coagh, 526. Tvrone. 

Coal Island, 598, Tyrone. 

% ? Coleraine, 6,588, Derry. 

Collon. 547, Louth. 

Collooney, 391, Sligo. 

Comber, 2,006. Down. 

Cong, 364. Mavo. 

Conlig, 335. Down. 



336 



POPULATION IN CITIES AND TOWNS. 



Conna, 167, Cork. 
Connor, 255, Antrim. 
Convoy, 259, Donegal. 
gCookstown, 3,501, Tyrone. 
Coolaney, 230, Sligo. 
Coole, 353, Westmeath. 
Coolgreaney, 201, Wexford. 
Coolock, 202, Dublin. 
Coolrain, 144, Queen's. 
Cooraclare, 171, Clare. 
Coosheen, 151, Clare. 
gCootehill, 1,351, Cavan. 
* ft Cork, 100,518, Cork. 
Corrofm, 639, Clare. 
Courtmacsherry, 485, Cork. 
Courtown Harbour, 382, 

Wexford. 
Cove, 272, Cork. 
Craughwell, 168, Galway. 
Creeslough, 154, Donegal. 
Creggs, 151, Galway. 
Crindle, 181, Derry. 
Crinkill, 1,432, King's. 
Croagh, 123, Limerick. 
Crocketstown, 237, Sligo. 
Crookhaven, 257, Cork. 
Croom, 885, Limerick. 
Cross, 129, Clare. 
Crossakeel, 161, Meath. 
Crossgar, 688, Down. 
Crosshaven, 338, Cork. 
Crossmaglen, 649, Armagh. 
Crossmolina, 852, Mayo. 
Crossroads. 258, Donegal. 
Crumlin, 465, Antrim. 
Crumlin, 204. Dublin. 
Cullen, 182, Tipperary. 
Cullybackey, 255, Antrim. 
Curraglass, 144, Cork. 
Curran, 160, Derry. 
Cushendall, 470, Antrim. 
f Dalkey, 2,584, Dublin. 
Dangan, 158, Kilkenny. 
Darkley, 849, Armagh. 
Deansgrange, 300, Dublin. 
Delgany, 264, Wicklow. 
Delvin, 326, Westmeath. 
Detrygonnelly, 302, Fermh. 
Dervock, 358, Antrim. 
Desertmartin, 163, Derry. 
Dingle. 2,117, Kerry. 
Doagh, 264, Antrim. 
Dollingstown, 383, Down. 
Donaghadee, 2,226, Down. 
Donaghcloney, 142, Down. 
Donaghmore, 206, Queen's. 
Donoghmore, 351, Tyrone. 
Donard, 318, Wicklow. 
Donegal, 1,422, Donegal. 
Doneraile, 1,314, Cork. » 
Dooega, 191, Mayo. 
Doon, 366, Limerick. 
Doornane, 193, Kilkenny. 
Douglas, 783, Cork. 
l|Downpatrick. 4,155, Down, 
Drangan, 186, Tipperary. 
Draperstown, 503, Derry. 
ttDrogheda, 16, 165, Louth. 
Dromara, 205, Down. 
Dromcolliher, 652, Limer. 
Dromdaleague, 204, Cork. 
Dromina, 254, Cork. 
Dromiskiu, 152, Louth. 



§ Dromore, 2,408, Down. 

Dromore, 641, Tyrone. 

Drum, 162, Monaghan. 

Drum add, 297, Armagh. 

Drumahaire, 269, Leitrim. 

Drumcondra, 207, Dublin. 

Drumcondra, 178, Meath. 

Drumkeeran. 381, Leitrim. 

Drumlish, 369, Longford. 

Drumquin, 287, Tyrone. 

Drumshambo, 594, Leitrim. 

Drumsna, 258, Leitrim. 

Duagh, 267, Kerry. 

*Dublin, 267, 717, Dublin. 

Duleek, 719, Meath. 

Dunboyne, 344, Meath. 

Duncannon, 604, Wexford. 

Duncormick, 215, Wexford. 

t Dundalk, 11,377, Louth. 

Dundonald, 121, Down. 

Dundrum, 293, Down. 

Dundrum, 540, Dublin. 

Dundrum. 156, Tipperary. 

Dunfanaghy, 650, Donegal. 

t Dungannon, 3,886. Tyrone. 

Dungarvan, 146, Kilkenny. 

JDungarvan, 7,719, Waterf. 

Dungh r en. 755, Derry. 

Dungloe, 464, Donegal. 

Dunkineely, 333. Donegal. 

Dunlavin, 651, Wicklow. 

Dunkitt, 160, Kilkenny. 

Dunleer, 528, Louth. 

Dunmanway, 2,046, Cork. 

Dunmore, 640, Galway. 

Dunmore, 383, Waterford. 

Dunmurry, 504, Antrim. 

Dunnamanagh, 231, Ty- 
rone. 

Dunshaughlin, 362, Meath. 

Durrow, 956, Queen's. 

Durrus, 193, Cork. 

Easky, 306, Sligo. 

Eden, 276, Antrim. 

Edenderry, 1,873, King's. 

Ederney, 332, Fermanagh. 

Edgeworthstown, 1,136, 
Longford. 

Edmondstown, 138, Dublin. 

Elphin, 1,051, Roscommon. 

Emly, 331, Tipperary. 

Emyvale, 424, Monaghan. 

t Ennis, 6,503, Clare. 

gEnniscorthy, 5,594, Wexf. 

Enniskeen, 323, Cork, 

Enniskerry, 381, Wicklow. 

t Enniskillen, 5,836, Fermh. 

Ennistimon, 1.411, Clare. 

Errill, 190, Queen's. 

Eyeries, 137, Cork. 

Eyrecourt, 747, Galway. 

Factory, 140, Meath. 

Farsid, 184, Cork. 

Feakle, 198, Clare. 

Feenagh, 140, Limerick. 

Feeny, 187, Derry. 

Ferbane, 419, King's. 

I Fermoy, 7.388, Cork. 

Ferns. 568. Wexford, 

?Fethard, 2,106 Tipperary. 

Fethard, 273, Wexford. 

Fiddown, 149, Kilkenny. 

Finglas, 499, Dublin. 



Finnea, 193. Westmeath. 
Fintona, 1,338, Tyrone. 
Fisherstreet, 126, Clare. 
Fivemiletown. 625. Tyrone. 
Ford. 232. Wexford. 
Forkhill, 165, Armagh. 
Foxford, 667. Mayo. 
Frankford, 669, King's. 
Freemount, 205, Cork. 
Frenebpark, 479, Ro-com. 
Freshi'ord, 915, Kilkenny, 
Galbally, 283, Limerick. 
X Galway, 19,843. Galway. 
Garristown, 253. Dublin. 
Garvagh, 764. Derry. 
? Gilford, 2,720, Down. 
Glandore, 322, Cork. 
Glanmire, 330, Cork. 
Glanworth, 673, Cork. 
Glasluugh, 231, Monaghan. 
Glasnevii). 328, Dublin. 
Glenageary, 310, Dublin. 
Glenarm, 987, Antrim. 
Glenavy, 261, Antrim. 
Glennamaddy. 257, Galway. 
Glenties. 597, Donegal. 
Glenville263, Cork. 
Glin, 883 Limerick. 
Glynn. 2; 9. Antrim. 
Golden, 354. Tippeiary. 
Goresbridge, 446, Kilken. 
§ Gorey, 2,ii39, Wexford. 
Gort, 1,773, Galway. 
Gortin, 303, Tyrone. 
Gowran, 707. Kilkenny. 
Gracehill, 290, Antrim. 
Graigneuamanagh, 1,272. 

Kilkenny. 
Granard, 1,811, Longford. 
Grange, 173, Sligo. 
Grange, 121. Tyrone. 
Greencastle.' 7*->2, Antrim. 
Greyabbey, 770, Down. 
Greystones, 355, Wicklow. 
Groomsport. 32 1, Down. 
Gyleen, 299, Cork. 
Hacketstown, 863, Carlow. 
Hallway House, 166, Cork. 
Hamilton's Bawn, 127, 

Armagh. 
Headford, 870, Galway. 
Hei'bertstown, 3;i7, Limer'k. 
Hillsborough, 885, Down. 
Hilltown, 253, Down. 
Hollymount, 278, Mayo. 
gHolywood, 3,573, Down. 
Hospital, 696, Limerick. 
Howth, 952. Dublin. 
Hugginstown, 137, Kilken. 
Hyde Park, 206, Antrim. 
Inchigeelagh, 213, Cork. 
Inishannon, 454, Cork. 
Inishcrone, 259, Sligo. 
Inishark. 1 17. Mayo. 
Inistiogue, 701, Kilkenney. 
Innfield, 217, Meath. ■ 
Irvinestown, 787, Ferman. 
Jamestown, 125, Leitrim. 
Johnstown, 528, Kilkenny. 
Jonesborough, 132, Armach. 
Kanturk, 1,964, C!ork. 
Keadue, 179, Roscommon. 
§Keady, 1,815, Armagh. 



POPULATION IN CITIES AND TOWNS. 






Kcenagh, 107. Longford. 
Kells, 234, Antrim. 
K el Is, 290. Kilkenny. 
IKells, 2,953, Meath. 
Kenmare, 1,205. Kerry. 
Kesh, 296, Fermanagh. 
Kilbaha, 208, Clare. 
Kilbeggan, 1. 1-15, Westm. 
Kilcar, 280, Donegal. 
Kilchreest. 161 .Gal way. 
Kilcoek, 764, Kildare. 
Kilconnell, 148, Galway. 
Kileoole. 350, Wicklow. 
Kilcullen, 933, Kildare. 
Kildare, 1,333, Kildare. 
Kildavin, 125, Carlow. 
Kildirno, 184, Limerick. 
Kildorrery, 4 07 , Cork. 
Kilfenora, 294, < lare. 
Kilflnnane, 1,299. Limerick. 
Kilgarvan, 183, Kerry. 
Kilkee, 1,605, Clare. 
Kilkeel, 1,338, Down. 
Kilkelly, 259, Mayo. 
*tjKilkenny.lo,748, Kilken. 
Kilkishen, 286, Clare. 
Kill, 215, Kildare. 
Kill, 282, Waterford. 
Killadvsert, 573, Clare. 
Killala, 654, Mayo. 
Killaloe, 1,479, Clare. 
§Killarney, 5,195, Kerry- 
Killashandra, 692, Cavan. 
Killashee, 145, Longford. 
Killawillin, 455. Cork. 
Killeagh, 394, Cork. 
Killeany, 3S5. Galway. 
Killonaule, 924, Tipperary. 
Killimor, 286, Galway. 
IIKilliney and Ballybrack, 

2.290, Dublin. 
Killinick, 177, Wexford. 
Kill -of- the -Grange, 206, 

Dublin. , 
Killorglin, 1,055, Kerry. 
KillougL, 718, Down. 
Killucan, 200, Westmeath. 
Killybegs, 657, Donegal. 
Killygordon, 175, Donegal. 
Killylea, 191, Armagh. 
Killyleagh, 1,772, Down. 
Kilmacow, 178, Kilkenny, 
Kilmacrenan, 158, Donegal. 
Kilmacthomas, 606, Waterf. 
Kilmaganny, 403, Kilkenny. 
Kilmaine, 214, Mayo. 
IT Kilmainham, New, 4,956, 

Dublin. 
Kilmallock, 1,162, Limericl 
Kilmanagh, 165. Kilkenny. 
Kilmeage, 145, Kildare. 
Kilmeedy, 190, Limerick. 
Kilmore, 131, Down. 
Kilmore, 145, Wexford. 
Kilmore (Crossfarnoge),' 

411, Wexford. 
Kihnurvy, 128, Galway. 
Kilnaleck. 324, Cavan. 
Kilpedder, 173, Wicklow. 
Kilrea, 954, Derry. 
Kilronan, 527, Galway. 
KiJfush, 4,436, Clare. 
Kiisheelan, 315, Tipperary 



Kiltanngh, 907, Mayo. 

Kilteliv. 198, Limerick. 

Kiltegan. 190. Wicklow. 

Kiltyclogher, 389, Leitrim. 

Kilvine. 354, Mayo. 

Kilwoith, 657, Cork. 

Kingscourt, 912, Cavan. 

If Kingstown. 16.378, Dublin. 

Kinlough, 301, Leitrim. 

Kinnegad, 628, Westmeath. 

PIinnitty,'236. Queen's. 

t Kinsale, 7.050, Cork. 

Kinvarra, 614, Galway. 

Kircubbin, 621, Down. 

Kuightstown, 241, Kerry. 

Knock, 129, Mayo. 

Knockaderry, 173. Limerick. 

Knockainy, 229, Limerick. 

Knockcroghery, 163, Ilos- 
common. 

Knockmahon,252,Waterf'd. 

Knocktopher,220,Kilkenny. 

Labasheeda, 334 Clare. 

Ladysbridge, 124, Cork. 

Laghy, 144, Donegal. 

Lambeg, 186, Antrim. 

Lanesborough, 363, Long- 
ford and Roscommon. 

?Larne, 3,288 Antrim. 

Laurencetown, 143, Down. 

Laurencetown, 345, Galway. 

Leap, 132. Cork. 

Lecarrow, 154, Mayo. 

Legoniel, 3,152, Antrim. 

Lehinch, 317, Clare. 

Leighlinbridge, 1,066, Car- 
low. 

Leitrim, 212, Leitrim. 

Leixlip, 817, Kildare. 

JLetterkenny. 2,116, Doneg. 

Lifford. 660, Donegal. 

gLimavady, 2,762, London- 
derry. 

*ttLimerick, 49,980, Limer- 
ick. 

Lisbellaw, 283, Fermanagh 

JgLisburn, 9,326, Antrim 
and Down. 

Liscannor, 415, Clare. 

Liscarroll,301, Cork. 

gLismore, 1.946. Waterford 

Lisnaskea, 857, Fermanagh 

Listowel, 2,199, Kerry. 

Littleton, 166. Tipperary. 

Loghill,221, Limerick. 

* t % Londonderry, 25, 242, 
Londonderry. 

?Longford, 4,375, Longford 

Longwood, 375, Meath. . 

Lorrha, 129, Tipperary. 

Loughbeg, 431, Cork. 

Loughbrickland. 388, Down 

Loughgall, 135, Armagh. 

Lough <j linn. 248, Itoscom. 

gLoughrea, 3,072. Galway. 

Loughshinny, 192 Dublin. 

Louisbiirgh. 549, Mayo. 

Louth, 358, Louth. 

Lucan, 523, Dublin. 

§ Lurgan, 10,632, Armagh. 

Lurgangre"n, 148, Louth. 

Lusk, 571, Dublin. 

Macroom, 3,193, Cork, 



Maghera, 1,213, Derry. 

Magherafelt, 1,401. Derry. 

Maaheralin, 462, Down. 

Magulresbridge, 685, Fer- 
managh. 

Mahoonagh, 143, Limerick. 

MalahideT 653, Dublin. 

Mai in, 198, Donegal. 

Mallaranny, 231, Mayo. 

l?Mallow, 4.165. Cork. 

Manorcunningham, 234, 
Donegal. 

Manorhamilton, 977, Lei- 
trim. 

Markethill, 1.148. Armagh. 

^Maryborough, 2,731 .Que'n's. 

Maudlins, 167, Wexford. 

Mavnooth, 1.414. Kildare. 

Mehlough. 534, Galway. 

Middlequarter, 1 36, Mayo. 

§:.Tidleton, 3.603, Cork. 

Middletown, 434, Armagh. 

Mil ford. 216, Cork. 

Mill ford, 268, Donegal. 

Millisle, 299, Down. 

Millstreet. 1,394, Cork. 

Milltownmalbay, 1,362, 
Clare. 

Milltown, 141, Down. 

Milltown, 531, Kerry. 

Mitchelstown, 2,743, Cork. 

Moate, 1,531, Westmeath. 

Mohill, 1,062, Leitrim. 

Moira, 640, Down. 

?Monaghan, 3.632, Monagh. 

Monastereven. 1,040, Kild'e. 

Moneygall, 491, King's. 

Moneymore. 649. Derry. 

Monivea, 156, Galway. 

Monkstown, 198. Antrim. 

Monkstown, 718 Cork. 

Montpelier, 274, Limerick. 

Mooncoin, 645, Kilkenny. 

Moone, 180, Kildare. 

Moroe, 149, Limerick. 

Mossbeg, 219, Antrim. 

Moss-side, 173, Antrim. 

Mountbellew, 274. Galway. 

Mountbolus, 1S6, King's. 

Mountcharles,387, Donegal. 

?Mountmellick,3.316, Qu'ens 

Mountrath, 1,903, Queen's. 

Mountshannon. 222, Galw. 

Moville, 1. 049, Donegal. 

Moy, 581, Tyrone. 

Movs, 156 Derry. 

Muff, 169, Derry. 

Mullacrew, 221, Louth. 

Mullagh, 310, Cavan. 

Mullagh, 150. Clare. 

Mullinahone-, 818, Tip. 

Mullinavat, 531, Kilkenny. 

fMullingar, 5,103", Westm. 

Multifarnham, 270, West- 
meath. 

Myshall, 145, Carlow. 

?Naas, 3,360, Kildare. 

Naui, 139, Dublin. 

§Navan,4, 104, Meath. 

Neale, 130, Mayo. 

§Nenagh, 5,696, Tipperary. 

New Birmingham, 168, Tip- 

, Derary. 



«joo 



POPULATION IN CITIES AND TOWNS. 



Newbliss, 439, Monaghan. 
g Newbridge, 3,286, Kildare. 
Newcastle, 764 Down. 
Newcastle, 2,112, Limerick. 
New Glanmire, 143, Cork. 
New Inn, 132, Tipperary. 
Newmarket, 765, Cork. 
Newmarket-on- Fergus, 750, 

Clare. 
Newport, 815. Mayo. 
Newport, 1.013. Tipperary. 
tgNew Ross. 6,772, Wexford 

and Kilkenny. 
JgNew'ry, 14,158, Armagh 

and Down. 
Newtown, 36S. Cork. 
Newton. 613, Down. 
gNewtownards, 9,562 , Down. 
Newtownbarry, 1,014, Wex- 
ford. 
Newtownbellew. 220, Galw. 
Newtow ibreda. 3tl, Dowi. 
NewtowubuJer, 418, Fer- 
managh". 
Newtown-Crommelin, 132, 

Antrim. 
Newtown-Cunningham, 235, 

Donegal. 
Newtown-Dillon, 709, Mayo. 
New T. -Forbes, 317, Lougf. 
Newtown-Gore, 122, Leitr. 
Newtown- Hamilton , J ,027 , 

Armagh. 
Newtownmountkennedy, 

444, Wicklow. 
Newtow npark, 485, Dublin. 
NewT.-Sandes, 218, Kerry. 
Newtown-Stewart, 1,159, 

Tyrone. 
Nicker, 187, Limerick. 
Nine-mile-nouse, 193, Tip. 
Nobber,'342, Meath. 
O'Brienshridge, 293, Clare. 
O'Caliaghansmills, 183, 

Clare. * 
Oldbridge, 623, Waterford, 
Oldcastle, 911, Meath. 
Olrlleighlin. 181, Carlow. 
Old Park, 234. Antrim. 
I Omagh, 3.724, Tyrone. 
Oola, 465, Limerick. 
Oraninore, 533, Galway. 
Oughterard, 881, Galway. 
Ourtnagapple, 156, Galway. 
Palatine. 130, Carlow. 
Pallas, 146, Cork. 
Pallasgrean, 289, Limerick. 
Pallaskenry, 429, Limerick, 
ralmerston. 206. Dublin. 
Pai'kgate, 128, Antrim. 
gParsonstown. 4,939 King's. 
Passage, 729, Waterford. 
Passage West, 2,389. Cork, 
f Pembroke, 20.982, Dublin. 
Petligoe, 525, Donegal- and 

Fermanagh. 
Philipstown, 820, King's. 
Pilltown, 436, Kilkenny. 
P.umb Bridge, 149, Tyrone. 
Pointz Pass, 386, Armagh 

and Down. 
Pomeroy, 526, Tyrone. 
Ponds, 217, Dublin. 



§Portadown, 6.735, Armagh. 

iPortaierry, 1,938, Down. 

% Portarlington, 2,560, 

King's and Queen's. 

Portglenone, 697, Antrim 
and Londonderry. 

Portlaw, 3,774, Waterford. 

Portmagee, 148, Kerry. 

Portroe, 249. Tipperary. 

Portrush, 1.196, Antrim. 

Portstewart, 512, Perry. 

Portumna, 1 ,269, Galway. 

Prosperous, 263, Kildare. 

Purdysburn, 127, Down. 

I Queenstown, 10.340, Cork. 

Quin. 136, Clare. 

Raharnev, 153. Westmeath. 

Raheny,'l92, Dublin. 

Raheendoran, 136. Carlow. 

Ramsgrange, 124, Wexford. 

Raid tlstown. 604, Antrim. 

R vphoe, 1 ,021 , Donegal. 

Rasharkiu, 206. Antrim. 

Rathangan, 682, Kildare. 

Rathcoole, 459, Dublin, 

Ratbcormack. 451, Cork. 

Kathdowney, 1,186, Queen's. 

Rathdrum, 929, Wicklow. 

Ratbt'arnham, 589, Dublin. 

Ratlit'riland, 1,827, Down. 

Rathgormuck, 131, Water f. 

I Rathkeale, 2,517,Limerick. 

Rathmelton, 1,499, Donegal. 

f Rathmines and Rathgar, 
20,562. Dublin. 

Rathmullen, 418, Donegal. 

Rathnew, 695, Wicklow. 

Rathowen, 319, Westmeath. 

Rathvilly, 415, Carlow. 

Rathwire, 180, Westmeath. 

Ratoath, 376, Meath. 

Redcross, 236, Wicklow. 

Rich-hill, 725, Armagh. 

Ringville, 386. Waterford. 

Riverchapel, 231. Wexford. 

Riverstown, 162. Cork. 

Riverstown, 307, Sliso. 

Robertstown, 325, Kildare. 

Ilocht'ortbridge 251, West- 
meath. 

Rockcorry, 284, Monaghan. 

Rockhill, 163, Limerick. 

Rockmills, 177, Cork. 

Roonah, 149, Mayo. 

Roosky, 190, Leitrim and 
Roscommon. 

I Roscommon, 2,375, Ros- 
common. 

Roscrea, 2,§9 \ Tipperary. 

Roseniont, 247, Dublin. 

Rosscarbery, 714, Cork. 

Rosses, Upper. 200, Sligo. 

Rosslea, 371, Fermanaugh. 

Rosstrevor, 627, Down. 

Roundhill, 177, Cork. 

Roundstone, 353, Galway. 

Royal Oak, 122, Carlow. 

Rush. 1,238. Dublin. 

Saintfield. 904, Down. 

St. Johnstown, 285, Donegal. 

St. Patrickswell, 272, Lim- 
erick. 

Sallins, 452, Kildare. 



Sally's Cross Roads, 167, 

Cork. 
Scarriff, 734, Clare. 
Scartlea, 161, Cork. 
Scarva, 196, Down. 
Scilly, 646, Cork, 
Scotshouse, 130, Monaghan. 
Scotstown, 139. Monaghan. 
Scrabby, 121. Oavan. 
Seaforde, 161, Down. 
Seein, 851, Tyrone. 
Shan agar ry, 263, Cork. 
Shanagolden, 299, Limerick. 
Shanballymore, 214, Cork. 
Shannonbridge, 254, King's, 
Shannan Harbour, 166, 

King's. 
Shercock, 354, Cavan. 
Shillel igh. 426, Wicklow. 
Shinrone. 552, King's. 
Shrule, 330, Mayo. 
Silvermiiies, 294, Tip. 
Sixmilebridge, 517, Clare. 
Sixmilecross, 341 Tyrone. 
Skerries, 2,236, Dublin. 
gSkibbereen, 3.695, Cork. 
Skull, 555, Cork. 
Slane, 473, Meath. 
tSligo, 10.670, Sliso. 
Smithborousrb, Monagh. 
Sneem. 454, Kerry. 
Spiddle, 273, Galway. 
-•tamullin, 182, Meath. 
Stepaside, 155, Dublin. 
Stewartstown, 931, Tyrone. 
Stillorgan, 513, Dublin. 
Stonyford, 272, Kilkenny. 
§ Strabane, 4,309, Tyrone. 
Stradbally, 181 . Kerry. 
Stradbally, 1,229, Queen's. 
Stradbally, 469, Waterford, 
St adone, 128, Cavan. 
Strangibrd, 482. Down. 
Stranocum, 122, Antrim. 
Strauorlar. 468, Donegal. 
Stratford. 278, Wicklow. 
Strokestown, 974, Roscom. 
Summerhill, 216, Meath. 
Swanlinbar, 314, Cavan. 
Swatragh, 184, Derry. 
Swineford, 1,366, Mayo. 
Swords, 1,008, Dublin. 
Taghmon, 251. Wexford. - 
Tallaght, 312, Dublin. 
Tallow, 1,332, Waterford. 
gTanderagee, 1 ,240, Armh. 
Tarbert, 705, Kerry. 
gTemplemore, 3,497, Tip. 
Templepatrick, 144, Antrim. 
Templeplace, 402. Kildare. 
Templetuohv, 308, Tip. 
Tempo, 460, Fermanagh. 
Terenure, 903, Dublin. 
Termonfeckin, 224, Louth. 
Thomastown, 1,202, Kilk. 
gThurles, 5,008, Tipperary. 
Tillytown, 339, Dub in. 
Timahoe, 130, Queen's. 
Timoleague, 449, Cork. 
Tinahely, 495, Wicklow. 
Tinnahinch, 413, Carlow. 
?Tipperary„5.638, Tipp. 
Toberaheena, 223, Tipper. 



POPULATION IN CITIES AND TOWNS. 



339 



Tobercurry. 884, Sligo. 
Tobermore, 528, Derry. 
Tolka, 190, Dublin. 
Tomgraney, 145, Clare. 
Tooniyvara, 417, Tipperary. 
Tooreen, 152, Mayo. 
tgTralee, 9,506, Kerry. 
Tramore, 2,011, Waterford. 
Trillick, 350, Tyrone. 
gTrim, 2,195, Meath. 
g Tnam, 4,223, Galway. 
Tulla, 861, Clare. 
Tullaghan, 117, Leitrim. 
? Tullamore, 5,179, King's. 
Tullow, 2,148, Carlow. 



Tullyveery, 994, Down. 
Tynagh, 144, Galway. 
Tynan, 121, Armagh. 
Tyrrellspass, 475, Westm. 
Unionhall, 477, Cork. 
Urlingford, 1,207, Kilken. 
Villierstown, 231, Waterf d. 
Virginia, 787, Cavan. 
Waringstown, 671, Down. 
Warren, 226, Antrim. 
Warrenspoint, 1,806, Down. 
*tt Waterford, 29.979, Wa- 
terford. 
Watergrasshiil, 143, Cork. 
gWestport, 4,417, Mayo. 



Westquarter, 126, Mayo. 
ft Wexford, 12,077, Wexfd. 
White Abbey, 1.272, Antr. 
Whitegate, 951, Cork. 
White^ House, Lower, 339. 

Antrim. 
White House, Upper, 1,056, 

Antrim. 
White's Town, 250, Louth. 
gWicklow, 3,164, Wicklow. 
Wilbrook, 130, Dublin. 
Windgap, 128, Kilkenny. 
Windy Harbour, 314, Dub. 
Woodford, 377, Galway. 
tg Youghal, 6,081, Cork. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Absentee proprietors, number of 24 

•Absenteeism . . 156 

Ancient Irish tenantry ' 36 

Ancient land laws. .... * 37 

Anglo-Norman Invasion 33 

Anthracite coal 12 

Antiquity of Irish civilization 26 

Appalling horrors of the Famine in 46-7 ( . 186 

Arable land, acres of. 19 

Armies of William and James 142 

Attempts to win over the Catholics 172 

Banks, establishment of 122 

Barley, produce of per acre 20 

Baronies, number of (see, also, Gazetteer for location of.) ... . 19 

Beal-an-atha-buie, battle of 47 

Benburb, battle of 107 

Big-gar, Joseph » 216 

Birth-places of the people 21 

Bituminous coal 12 

Blind, ratio of the i 23 

Botany of the Island 14 

Boyne, the battle of * . 143 

Brass coined for Ireland 118 

Brehon land laws 37 

Bribery unparalleled 116 

Catholic emancipation 174 

Catholics disarmed 134 

Cattle trade of Ireland 126 

(341) 



342 INDEX. 

PAGE 

Census of population 20 

Chronic Irish misery, the secret of 187 

Climate of the Island 14 

Clontibret, battle of 46 

Clontarf, battle of 31 

Coal beds, area of 12 

Coinage for Ireland 117 

Commodities of Ulster 78 

Confederacy of the North 44 

Confiscations 60-103 

Conn O'Neill and the Montgomeries 66 

Conquest of Ireland begun 34 

Constabulary 15 

Copper mines 13 

Cotton manufactures (see, also, Gazetteer) 125 

Counties, acreable extent of 18 

Cromwell in Ireland 107 

Crops, acres under . : 19 

Cutting off heads, reward for 55 

Danish Invasion 29 

Davitt, Michael, speech of 232 

Deaf and dumb, the ratio of 23 

Dean Swift on Absenteeism 158 

Death of Sarsfield 148 

of Thomas Davis 197 

Debasing the Coin 121 

Declaration of Irish Rights 163 

Defection of Anglo-Irish Generals 107 

Defective titles 70 

Deterioration of the Irish 80 

Difficulties incident to State interference 230 

Dillon, John 215 

Disarming acts 134 

Discoverers at work 90 

Drapier's letters, the 121 

Dwellings of the people 21 

Ecclesiastical divisions. 322 



INDEX. 343 

PAGE 

Education under native government 29 

Effects of absenteeism * 160 

Elective franchise 16 

Electors, number of (see, also, Gazetteer.) 16 

E!eva J ions of the land 10 

Emancipation not confined to Ireland 175 

Emigration, statistics of 24-194 

not remedial 235 

the landlord's cure 245 

English indifference to Irish want 2 S 

law introduced into Ulster 71 

Evil working of the tenant-at-will system 223 

Evils of absenteeism 157 

Extermination counseled. 87 

Families, number of 22 

Famine in 1845-6-7. : 180-187 

Fenian raid into Canada 206 

Five Bloods, persons of the 138 

Franchise, elective 116 

Free trade and the volunteers 162 

Gazetteer of Ireland 253 

cities and boroughs 287 

counties 253 

parishes 322 

population 334 

Geology of the Island 10 

Geraldine forfeitures in Munster 61 

Glenmalure, battle of 153 

Government, form of, in early times 27 

present form of 15 

Grattan's efforts to prevent the Union. 174 

Gold ore » 13 

Henry Eighth acknowledged king, 35 

Houses — number of inhabitants in 21 

Idiotic, the ratio of 23 

Ignorance enforced by statute laws 132 

Indictment for killing an Irishman 140 



344 INDEX. 

PAGE 

Industries of Ireland 113 

Insurgents at New Ross 168 

Irish language, names, etc., prohibited 56 

landlordism a record of cruel bondage 227 

not subjects but enemies 54 

parliaments, composition of 115 

sympatic with American rebels 161 

Irishmen had no protection under the law 139 

Ireland had no power of self defense 188 

Iron ore 12 

Judicial divisions 16 

Kilkenny, statute of . • 55 

Killing an Irishman no felony 54 

Kinsale, battle of 49 

Lakes, the v 10 

Landed property 17 

Landlords acting injuriously to themselves 228 

Lady Morgan on absenteeism 156 

Leaders of the Land League 212 

Lead veins 13 

Linen manufacture 125 

Lunatics, the ratio of 23 

Massacre of Mullaghmast 150 

Meagher T. F., a speech of ' 183 

Military divisions 17 

Militia, the 17 

Minerals — (see, also, Gazetteer) 12 

Mistakes of the emigrants on landing 196 

Mitchel convicted of treason — felony 201 

Monster meetings 177 

Montgomeries in the Ardes of Down 65 

Mort ality on shipboard 195 

Mountains, the principal 10 

Munificence of the American people 185 

National Council at Kells 106 

New effort to plant Englishmen on the land. . , Ill 

New Ross, battle at 168 



INDEX. 345 

PAGE 

Nominal iV^h Parliaments 115 

Norman settlement 34 

Norsemen, invasions by 80 

O'Connell and the men of '48 189 

his wonderful influence , 178 

last appeal to England , . 182 

true to civil and religious liberty 180 

O'Donnell, Frank Hugh 220 

O'Neill unfurls his royal standard .... 45 

O'Sullivan, W. H. 219 

Oath of supremacy 109 

Oats, produce of per acre 20 

Occupations of the people 28 

Oulart Hill, the battle of ' 167 

Parliamentary independence 116 

Parnell, Charles S 218 

Paupers '25 

Peace policy, the 179 

Peat bog, extent of 12 

Penal Laws under Catholic England 51 

under Protestant England 128 

Plantations, area of 19 

Police force, Metropolitan 16 

Political divisions' of the Island 13 

systems, effects of 59 

Popery laws cause deep distress 137 

Population, census of the 20 

by counties 253 

cities, boroughs .' 287 

towns 344 

Potatoes, produce of per acre 20 

Poverty in Ireland compulsory 128 

Power, John O'Connor 218 

Prevalent diseases in Ireland , 14 

Produce, per acre 20 

Proprietors of land, number of 24 

Protestant patriotism in 1782 116 



34:6 INDEX." 

PAGE 

Protests against the act of union 173 

Provinces, total area of 18 

Prussian land tenure 238 

Reformation, the 41 

Religious persecutions 88 

Repeal of the Union, agitation for 176 

Representation 16 

Results of absenteeism 159 

Republican ideas propagated 190 

Rights of property ■. 237 

Rising of the North 44 

Rivers the 10 

Russian system of land tenure 240 

Sanitary condition of the people 23 

Sarsfield meets William at Ste"nk ; rk 147 

Saxon race, character of 81 

Schools, early establishment of ,. . 28 

Scottish Highlanders in Ulster 65 

Secession from the Repeal Association 191-199 

of John Mitchell from Irish Confederation 200 

Settlement by the Danes 30 

Normans 34 

Scotch 65 

Silver ore 1,3 

Size of farms in Ireland ' 250 

Social comparison of the two races 79 

Society of United Irishmen 164 

St. Patrick 26 

Statistics of Ireland (see, also, Gazetteer.) 9 

Starving amid plenty 225 

Submission of the northern chiefs £0 

Suppressed Industries of Ireland 13 

Surface of the Island 10 

Synod of Catholic bishops at Kells, 1643 106 

Temperature of the Island 14 

Tenant right agitation 203 



INDEX. 347 

PAGE 

Tenants evicted by military force 210 

could not control the elements 209 

of Ulster boldly assert their rights 250 

Territorial division (see, also, Gazetteer) 18 

The American Phosnix Society 205 

The Crow-bar Brigade 242 

The Devon Land Commission 193 

The Dublin Nation newspaper 197 

The Fire- Brand of the mountains 153 

The Irish Confederation of '48 199 

The Irish Exodus 192 

The Manchester martyrs 207 

The National Land League 222 

The State has the right to take lands 237 

Tinstone 13 

Towns, number of acres under 19 

population of 287 

Treaty of Limerick, violation of 128 

Turf bog, extent of (see, also, Gazetteer) 12 

Ulster Plantations 84-93 

Uncultivated land, area of 19 

Union, the legislative 170 

United Irishmen 164 

Valor and prowess of the natives 79 

Value of a murdered Irishman 141 

Violation of the treaty of Limerick 129 

Water, number of acres under (see, also, Gazetteer.) 19 

Water-power of Ireland 127 

Wexford insurgents , 166 

Wheat, produce of per acre 20 

Woolen manufactures (see, also, Gazetteer.) 125 

Wretched condition of the people 110 

Young Ireland, chiefs banished 203 

Zoology (see, also, Gazetteer) 14 



APPENDIX. 



LETTER OF DONALD O'NEILL, KING OF ULSTER, TO JOHN, 
SOVEREIGN POJSTIFF, WRITTEN ABOUT 1329. 

To our Most Holy Father, John, bij the grace of God, sovereign 
pontiff, ive, his faithful children in Christ Jesus, Donald O'Neill, 
king of Ulster, and lawful heir to the throne of Ireland; the no- 
bles and great men with all the people of this kingdom, recom- 
mend and humbly cast ourselves at his feet, dx. 
The calumnies and false representations which have been heaped 
upon us by the English are too well known throughout the world, 
not to have reached the ears of your Holiness. We are persuaded, 
most Holy Father, tha/t your intentions are most pure and upright, 
but from not knowing the Irish except through the misrepresenta- 
tion ot their enemies, your holiness might be induced to look upon 
as truths those falsehoods which have been circulated, and to form 
an opinion contrary to what we merit, which would be to us a 
great misfortune. ,; It is, therefore, to save our country against 
such imputations, that we hav^ come to the resolution of giving to 
your Holiness, in this letter, a faithful description, and a true and 
precise idea of the real state at present of our monarchy, if this 
term can be still applied to the sad remains of a kingdom which 
has groaned so long beneath the tyranny of the kings of England, 
and that of their ministers and barons, some of whom, though 
born in our island, continue to exercise over us the same extortions, 
rapine and cruelties as their ancestors before them have commit- 
ted. We shall advance nothing but the truth, and we humbly 
hope that, attentive to its voice, your Holiness will not delay to 
express your disapprobation against the authors of those crimes 
and outrages which shall be revealed. The country in which we 
live was uninhabited until the three sons of ( a Spanish prince, 
named Milesius, according to others Micelius, landed in it with a 
fleet of thirty ships. They came here from Cantabria, a city on the 
Ebro, from which river they called the country to which Providence 
guided them, Ibernia, where they founded a monarchy that em- 
braced the enure of the island. Their descendants, who never 

(348) 



APPENDIX. 349 

sullied the purity of their blood by a foreign alliance, have fur- 
nished one hundred and thirty kings, who, during the space of 
three thousand five hundred years and upwards^ have successively 
filled the throne of Ireland till the time of King Legarius, from 
whom he, who has the honour of affirming th^e facts, is descended 
in a direct line. It was under the reign of this prince, in the year 
435, that our patron and chief apostle, St. Patrick, was sent to us 
by Pope Celestinus, one of your predecessors; and since the con- 
version of the kingdom through the preaching of that great saint, 
we have had, till 1170, an uninterrupted succession of sixty-one 
kings, descended from the purest blood of Milesius, who, well in- 
structed in the duties of their religion, and faithful to their God, 
have proved themselves fathers of their people, and have shown 
by their conduct that, although they depended in a spiritual light 
upon the holy apostolical see of Rome, they never acknowledged 
any temporal master upon earth. It is to those Milesian princes, 
and not to the English or any other foreigners, that the church of 
Ireland is indebted for those lands, possessions, and high privi- 
leges, with which the pious liberality of our monarchs enriched it, 
and of which it has been almost stripped, through the sacrilegious 
cupidity of the English. During the course of so many centuries, 
our sovereigns, jealous of their independence, preserved it unim- 
paired. Attacked more than once by foreign powers, they were 
never wanting in either courage or strength to repel the invaders, 
afed secure their inheritance from insult. But that which they ef- 
fected against force, they failed to accomplish in opposition to the 
will of the sovereign pontiff. His holiness Pope Adrian, to whose 
other great qualities we bear testimony, was by birth an English- 
man, but still more in heart and disposition. The national preju- 
dices he had early imbibed, blinded him to such a degree that, on 
a most false and unjust statement, he determined to transfer the 
sovereignty of our country to Henry, King of England, under 
whom, and perhaps by whom, St. Thomas of Canterbury had been 
murdered for his zeal in defending the interests of the church. 

Instead of punishing this prince as his crime merited, and de- 
priving him of his own territories, the complaisant pontiff has torn 
ours from us to gratify his countryman, Henry II. : and, without 
pretext or offence on our part, or any apparent motive on his own, 
has stripped us by the most flagrant injustice of the rights of our 
crown, and left us a prey to men, or rather to monsters, who are 
unparalleled in cruelty. More cunning than foxes, and more rav- 
enous than wolves, they surprise and devour us ; and if sometimes 
we escape their fury, it is only to drag on, in the most disgraceful 
slavery, the wretched remains of a life more intolerable to us than 
death itself. When, in virtue of the donation which has been 
mentioned, the English appeared for the first time in this country, 
they exhibited every mark of zeal and piety; and excelling as they 
did in every species of hypocrisy, they neglected nothing to sup- 
plant and undermine us imperceptibly. Emboldened from th^k' 



350 APPENDIX. 

first sucesses, they soon removed the mask; and without any right 
but that of power, they obliged us, by open force, to give up to 
them our houses and our lands, and to seek shelter, like wild 
beasts, upon the mountains, in woods, marshes, and caves. Even 
there, we have not been secure against their fury; they even envy 
us those dreary and terrible abodes; they are incessant and unre- 
mitting in their pursuits after us, endeavouring to chase us from 
among them; they lay claim to every place in which they can dis- 
cover us, with unwarranted audacity and injustice; they allege 
that the whole kingdom belongs to them of right, and that an 
Irishman has no longer a right to remain in his own country. 
From these causes arise the implacable hatred and dreadful ani- 
mosity of the English and the Irish, towards each other; that con- 
tinued hostility, those bloody retaliations and innumerable massa- 
cres, in which, from the invasion of the English to the present 
time, more than fifty thousand lives have been lost on both sides, 
besides those who have fallen victims to hunger, to despair and 
to the rigours of captivity. Hence also spring all the pillaging, 
robbery, treachery, treason and other disorders which it is impos- 
sible ior us to allay in the state of anarchy under which at present 
we live; an anarchy fatal not only to the state, but likewise to the 
church of Ireland, whose members are now, more than ever, ex- 
posed to the danger of losing the blessings of eternity, after being 
first deprived of those of this world. Behold, most holy father, a 
brief description of all that has reference to our origin, and the 
miserable condition to which your predecessor has brought us. 
We shall now inform your holiness of the manner in which we 
have been treated by the kings of England. The permisson of 
entering this kingdom, was granted by the holy see to Henry II. 
and his successors, only on certain conditions, which were clearly 
expressed in the bull which was given them. According to the 
tenor of it, Henry engaged to increase the church revenues in Ire- 
land; to maintain it in all its rights and privileges; to labour by 
enacting good laws, in reforming the morals of the people, eradi- 
cating vice, and encouraging virtue; and finally, to pay to the suc- 
cessors of St. Peter an annual tribute of one penny for each house. 
Such were the conditions of the bull. But the kings of England 
and their perfidious ministers, so far from observing them, have 
uniformly contrived to violate them in every way, and to act in 
direct opposition to them. First, as to the church lands, instead 
of extending their boundaries, they have contracted, curtailed, and 
invaded them so generally and to such a degree, that some of our 
cathedrals have been deprived, by open force, of more than one- 
half of their revenues. The persons of the clergy have been as 
little respected as their property. On every side we behold bish- 
ops and prelates summoned, arrested, and imprisoned by the com- 
missioners of the king of England; and so great is the oppression 
exercised over them, that they dare not give information of it to 
your holiness. However, as they are so dastardly as to conceal 



APPENDIX. 351 

their misfortunes and those of the church, they do not merit that 
Ave should speak in their behalf. 

The Irish were remarkable for their candour and simplicity; but 
the English have undertaken to reform us, and have been unfor- 
tunately but too successful. Instead of being-, like our ancestors, 
simple and candid, we have become, through our intercourse with 
the English, and the contagion of their example, artful and design- 
ing as themselves. Our laws were written, and formed a body of 
right, acceding to which our country was governed. However, 
with the exception of one alone, which they could not wrest from 
us, they have deprived us of those salutary laws, and have given 
us instead a code of their own making. Great God ! such laws ! 
If inhumanity and injustice were leagued together, none could 
have been devised more deadly and fatal to the Irish. The fol- 
lowing will give your holiness some idea of their new code. They 
are tne fundamental rules of English jurisdiction established in 
this kingdom: 

1st Every man who is not Irish, may, for any kind of crime, 
go to law with any Irishman, whilst neither layman nor ecclesias- 
tic, who is Irish, (prelates excepted,) can, under any cause or 
provocation, resort to any legal measures against his English 
opponent. 

2d — If an Englishman kill an Irishman perfidiously and falsely, 
as frequently occurs, of whatsoever rank or condition the Irishman 
may be, noble or plebeian, innocent or guilty, clergyman or lay- 
man, secular or regular, were he even a bishop, the crime is not 
punishable before our English tribunal; but on the contrary, the 
more the sufferer has been distinguished among his countrymen, 
either for his virtue or his rink, the more the assassin is extolled 
and rewarded bv the English, and that not only by the vulgar, 
but by the monks, bishops, and what is more incredible, by the 
very magistrates, whose duty it is to punish and repress crime. 

?>d — If *any Irishwoman whosoever, whether noble or plebeian, 
marry an Englishman, on the death of her husband she becomes 
deprived from her being Irish, of a third of the property and 
possessions which he owned. 

4th — If an Irishman tall beneath the blows of an Englishman, 
the latter can prevent the vanquished from making any testamen- 
tary deposition, and may likewise take possession of all his 
wealth. What can be more unjustifiable than a law which de- 
prives the church of its rights, and reduces men, who had been 
free from time immemorial, to the rank of slaves? 

5th — The same tribunal, with the co-operation and connivance 
of some English bishops, at which the arch-bishop of Armagh 
presided, a man who was but little esteemed for his conduct, and 
still less for his learning, made the following regulations at Kil- 
kenny, which are not less absurd in their import than in their 
form. The court, say they, after deliberating together, prohibits 
all religious communities, in that part of Ireland of which the 



352 APPENDIX. 

English are in peaceful possession, to admit any into them but 
a native of England, under a penalty of being- treated by the king 
of England, as having contemned his orders, and by the founders 
and administrators of the said communities, as disobedient and 
refractory to the present regulation. This regulation was little 
needed; before, as well as since its enactment, the English Do- 
minicans, Franciscans, Benedictines, regular canons, and all the 
other commun ties of their countrymen, observed the spirit of it 
but too faithfully. In the choice of their inmates they have 
evinced a partiality, the more shameful, as the house.-? for Bene- 
dictines and canons, where the Irish are now denied admittance, 
were intended by their founders to be asylums open to people of 
every nation indiscriminately. Vice was to be eradicated from 
amongst us, and the seeds of virtue sown. Our reformers have 
acted in a way diametrically opposite; they have deprived us of 
our virtues, and have implanted their vices amongst us, &c. &c. &c. 



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